It’s Not All About What’s In A Name -- Clean Water Act Renewal Threatens States’ Rights Over Water
By: Doug Busselman, Executive Vice President
What’s in a name? Well, when you’re talking about the “Clean Water Restoration Act” (S. 787) you’re not just talking about getting clean water. Based on the approach that Congress would like to take, you are actually trying to undo a series of U.S. Supreme Court decisions that didn’t go the way that zealots of command and control would have liked.
The bill is planned to create a new and broad set of federal authorities over every drop of water (and even some dry land). A copy of S 787 can be linked to from here.
At the heart of the legislative proposal, championed by Senator Barbara Boxer of California is to get rid of the current law’s linkage to “navigable waters” and switch things to broadly defined federal jurisdiction.
S. 787 explicitly erases the distinction between federal and state waters. The bill regulates “all intra-state waters” to “the fullest extent of…the legislative power of Congress under the Constitution.” So much for the principle that states have rights to determine the best for their water resources…
Although the Nevada Senate adopted a resolution urging Congress to maintain the appropriate state authority, passing SJR 8 on a 21 to 0 vote -- the assigned Assembly committee failed to process the resolution.
Nevada citizens should not follow the course that the Nevada Assembly Committee on Elections, Procedures, Ethics, and Constitutional Amendments determined to take (doing nothing). Our elected officials in Washington, D.C. (Senator Reid and Senator Ensign in the case of S. 787) need to hear from us, encouraging their opposition to this grab for more federal control. It might be worth reminding them, especially Senator Reid, that the work of keeping federal agencies from obtaining water for Yucca Mountain has been secured by state authority over water.
Federalizing authority over water resources is not about water quality – it’s about granting federal agencies (primarily the Environmental Protection Agency – EPA) taking over our water and extending control over everything connected to how water is used.
The hunger of the federal government to ooze its way into every nook and cranny of our lives must be resisted and the strongest of messages must be sent to stay within the guidelines of the rulings made by the U.S. Supreme Court.
What’s in a name? Well, when you’re talking about the “Clean Water Restoration Act” (S. 787) you’re not just talking about getting clean water. Based on the approach that Congress would like to take, you are actually trying to undo a series of U.S. Supreme Court decisions that didn’t go the way that zealots of command and control would have liked.
The bill is planned to create a new and broad set of federal authorities over every drop of water (and even some dry land). A copy of S 787 can be linked to from here.
At the heart of the legislative proposal, championed by Senator Barbara Boxer of California is to get rid of the current law’s linkage to “navigable waters” and switch things to broadly defined federal jurisdiction.
S. 787 explicitly erases the distinction between federal and state waters. The bill regulates “all intra-state waters” to “the fullest extent of…the legislative power of Congress under the Constitution.” So much for the principle that states have rights to determine the best for their water resources…
Although the Nevada Senate adopted a resolution urging Congress to maintain the appropriate state authority, passing SJR 8 on a 21 to 0 vote -- the assigned Assembly committee failed to process the resolution.
Nevada citizens should not follow the course that the Nevada Assembly Committee on Elections, Procedures, Ethics, and Constitutional Amendments determined to take (doing nothing). Our elected officials in Washington, D.C. (Senator Reid and Senator Ensign in the case of S. 787) need to hear from us, encouraging their opposition to this grab for more federal control. It might be worth reminding them, especially Senator Reid, that the work of keeping federal agencies from obtaining water for Yucca Mountain has been secured by state authority over water.
Federalizing authority over water resources is not about water quality – it’s about granting federal agencies (primarily the Environmental Protection Agency – EPA) taking over our water and extending control over everything connected to how water is used.
The hunger of the federal government to ooze its way into every nook and cranny of our lives must be resisted and the strongest of messages must be sent to stay within the guidelines of the rulings made by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Posted by Doug Busselman at 6/9/2009 7:08 PM 
Categories: Water
Tags: Nevada Clean Water Act Renewal Congress
Categories: Water
Tags: Nevada Clean Water Act Renewal Congress
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