ISSUE BRIEF: Oberstar
Do not let Congress expand the Clean Water Act and hurt local governments and private landowners’ rights!
Did you know that a U.S. representative from Minnesota wants the federal government to tell you what you can – and can’t – do when it comes to water?
That's right, the Clean Water Restoration Act (H.R. 2421), sponsored by Rep. James Oberstar of Minnesota and Sen. Russell Feingold of Minnesota, was introduced as a way to broaden protections under the Clean Water Act by bringing all U.S. waters under the control of the federal government. The CWRA expands the jurisdictional sweep of the Clean Water Act by changing the waters to be regulated from “navigable waters” to “waters of the United States.”
But while the Clean Water Restoration Act sounds nice – it’s hard to argue with cleaning up dirty lakes, rivers and streams – it’s a threat to private landowners’ rights because it would give the Feds authority to tell citizens and local governments what they can or can’t do with their own water. This legislation would greatly expand the jurisdictional sweep of the Clean Water Act and the results could be devastating to the West!
Take action now! Your Congressman needs to hear from you!
Here are some important things you need to know about the Clean Water Restoration Act:
1) The legislation would expand the regulatory reach of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers to include essentially all arguably wet areas (or areas wet at some time) in the U.S., giving the federal government jurisdiction over groundwater, ditches, pipes, streets, gutters and desert features.
2) It would expand the legal basis for the Clean Water Act, moving it beyond the current jurisdiction under the “commerce clause” in the U.S. Constitution. The new legislation would make congressional authority over any U.S. water virtually unlimited.
3) H.R. 2421 would essentially grant EPA and the Corps a veto over local land-use policies. Any activity involving water could be affected, including commercial and residential real estate development, agriculture, electric transmission, transportation, mining and energy development – even recreational activities.
4) This bill would eliminate existing regulatory limitations that allow common sense uses such as prior converted cropland and waste treatment systems. Currently, the CWA’s rules acknowledge limitations covering those elements.
5) This expanded definition would burden state and local governments both administratively and financially. A broad expansion of the CWA’s jurisdiction would put unfunded mandates on those entities, including requirements to adopt water quality standards (including monitoring and reporting).
6) H.R. 2421 would cause water providers, landowners and water-use entities’ liability risk to grow via citizen suit liability and exposure for attorneys fees awards.
How You Can Help:
Please ask those in Congress to stand up for the West and the United States by actively opposing H.R. 2421 and other efforts to expand the CWA!!
Click here to Take Action! Spend 60 seconds to make your voice heard!