Today, the Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee will consider legislation that expands federal regulation over bodies of water, even those too small or shallow for boats to navigate, according to the Watertown Daily Times. The bill, called the Clean Water Restoration Act, S 787, removes the word "navigable" from the definition of surface waters that fall under the federal clean water law, as lawmakers seek to address pollution across a wide range of streams, rivers and lakes. Instead, according to the Environmental Leader, it
“calls for regulation over ‘all waters subject to the ebb and flow of the tide, the territorial seas, and all interstate and intrastate waters and their tributaries, including lakes, rivers, streams (including intermittent streams),’ including ‘mudflats, sandflats, wetlands, sloughs, prairie potholes, wet meadows, playa lakes, natural ponds….’”
The American Farm Bureau Federation, in a letter to the committee, warned that “S. 787 would remove any bounds from the scope of Clean Water Act jurisdiction, so that the regulatory reach of the act would extend to all water -- anywhere from farm ponds, to storm water retention basins, to roadside ditches, to desert washes, to streets and gutters, even to a puddle of rainwater.” For the first time in the 36-year history of the act, activities that have no impact on actual rivers and lakes would be subject to full federal regulation.” The National Center for Public Policy Research has released a study detailing the drawbacks of the bill, and sent a letter with 100 signatories to the committee opposing it.
However, supporters such as the National Wildlife Federation are optimistic about the effect of the bill, saying in a press release that the act “would restore these safeguards and ensure clean drinking water for all Americans, as well protect millions of acres of wetlands and thousands of miles of streams used by America's wildlife."
Posted: 6/18/09
