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In what critics are describing as a government land grab, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed a change Tuesday to the Clean Water Act that would give it regulatory authority over temporary wetlands and waterways. The proposal immediately sparked concerns that the regulatory power could extend into seasonal ponds, streams and ditches, including those on private property. "The ... rule may be one of the most significant private property grabs in U.S. history," said Louisiana Sen. David Vitter, the top Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. The EPA proposal would apply pollution regulations to the country's so-called "intermittent...

Two Republican House members have sent a letter to the EPA questioning new rules being formulated that would give the EPA sweeping authority over streams and wetlands on private property. The EPA is justifying the rules by saying it's part of its mandate to enforce the Clean Water Act. But Reps. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) and Chris Stewart (R-Utah), both ranking members of the Science and Technology Committee, doubt the EPA's science in justifying the regulations and want the agency to slow down and get other opinions.

<p>A new online tool released by the Department of the Interior this week allows users to select any major stream and trace it up to its sources or down to its watershed.</p> <p>The above map, exported from the tool, highlights all the major tributaries that feed into the Mississippi River, illustrating the river’s huge catchment area of approximately 1.15 million square miles, or 37 percent of the land area of the continental U.S.</p>

QUESTION: How Do You Find Out What Alternate Data Streams Are Legitimate In Windows XP SP3 ? OR If I delete all Alternate Data Streams I find in Windows XP, will Windows Operating System continue to work? The more I read about Alternate Data Streams (ADS), the more I don't trust them. I found that there are 10 Things to know about ADS.1. There is no limit on the size of streams and there can be more than one stream linked to a normal file. ADS are not visible in explorer or via command prompt. In fact, their size...

Ernest Schwiebert, Who'd Rather Be Fishing, Dies at 74 By DOUGLAS MARTIN Published: December 13, 2005 Ernest Schwiebert, an architect and planner whose lifelong passion for fishing led him to write influential books on piscatorial matters like how trout perceive insects - all the better to make lures to catch them - died on Saturday at his home in Princeton, N.J. He was 74. Legend has it that Dr. Schwiebert (pronounced SHVEE-bert) landed a 12-inch brook trout with his first cast when he was 5 and never stopped casting. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/13/books/13schwiebert.html

July 21, 2004 Shielding streams from cattle, runoff By BOB STUART The News Virginian A new agricultural buffer program in the Shenandoah Valley, led by two major conservation groups, hopes to succeed like Swoope farmer Charles Drumheller has with his conservation efforts. The Shenandoah Project, coordinated by both the nonprofit Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service, has a one-year goal to attract 100 Valley farmers and landowners to the program. The mission: get those farmers to install 1,100 acres of forested stream buffers. The payback: farmers can recoup 75 percent to 100 percent of their costs...

Headwaters Logging Leads to Mudslides SCOTIA, California, January 9, 2003 (ENS) - Mudslides caused by logging activities are burying ancient redwood trees and salmon streams in California, environmentalists charge. Redwoods along California's Avenue of the Giants are being buried alive in sediment torrents originating in Pacific Lumber's logging sites in northern California, warn the Humboldt Watershed Council and the Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters. Neighbors of the controversial timber sales are reported to be working to save their houses, vehicles and other possessions from the storm related torrents that originate in hillsides laid bare by logging. "This is a...

Judge, Congress Members Oppose Mountaintop Mining Rule CHARLESTON, West Virginia, May 9, 2002 (ENS) - For a second time, a federal judge in West Virginia has ruled that mountaintop mining permits that allow the dumping of mine wastes into streams and valleys are illegal. The ruling comes within a week of a decision by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency that would expand approval for such mining operations. Federal District Court Judge Charles Haden ruled that all permits issued by the Army Corps of Engineers to allow mining waste to be discharged into waterways...