Watch: Inhofe Warns Democratic Water Bill "Biggest Bureaucratic Power Grab in a Generation"

Senator Inhofe (R-Okla.), Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, in a YouTube video release, warns that passage of legislation scheduled to be considered before the EPW Committee would have huge implications on rural America. In the video, Senator Inhofe called the bill the “biggest bureaucratic power grab in a generation.” The little-talked about bill, the Clean Water Restoration Act (S. 787), sponsored by Senator Feingold, would seek to “extend the scope and reach of federal water jurisdiction beyond anything that ever existed under the Clean Water Act.”

Are there any Freepers out there who can give us current information about the water issues in the Central Valley of Kalifornia?

I am under the impression hat water to over 88,000 farms is being cut off to ‘save the Delta smelt”, which is a totally non-commercial fish and not edible.

Would appreciate any info you can give us.

There were a lot of people complaining here in the past year or two about “taxing rainwater”. This was a tax in a few large cities based on the amount of rain that fell on your property and the amount of porous v impervious area there was on it. This tax was supposed to be spent to “clean up” the rainwater after it flowed overland to a creek.

This bill extends it to EVERY privately owned property regardless of how large the city is. I have heard that it also brings in waterfowl rules to every plot of water regardless of whether or not it is connected to a navigable waterway.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!

S. 787
To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to clarify the jurisdiction of the United States over waters of the United States.
SEC. 3. FINDINGS.
~~~snip~~
(3) in 1972, Congress enacted the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972 (Public Law 92-500; 86 Stat. 816), which amended the Federal Water Pollution Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.) in its entirety, in order to meet the national objective of restoring and maintaining the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation's waters;
~~~ snip~~~
(8) this Act will treat, as `waters of the United States', those features that were treated as such pursuant to the regulations of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Corps of Engineers in existence before the dates of the decisions referred to in paragraph (10), including--

(A) all waters which are subject to the ebb and flow of the tide;
(B) all interstate waters, including interstate wetlands;
(C) all other waters, such as intrastate lakes, rivers, streams (including intermittent streams), mudflats, sandflats, wetlands, sloughs, prairie potholes, wet meadows, playa lakes, or natural ponds;
(D) all impoundments of waters of the United States;
(E) tributaries of the aforementioned waters;
(F) the territorial seas; and
G) wetlands adjacent to the aforementioned waters;
~~~snip~~
(10) the ability to meet the national objective described in paragraph (3) has been undermined by the decisions of the United States Supreme Court...

These FASCISTS WANT CONTROL OF ...EVERYTHING! 'My' little Bass Lake, Lake Carlton, owned by MY Park District would now be controlled by some DC Bureaucratic Imbeciles! They would determine if I could fish there, what kind of line to use and even 'lures or live bait'.

I'm sorry but these $%#@*# ... #&%#$@ers are going to far with their POWER GRABS. It's a daily attack on all fronts of our Freedoms. And something better be done pdq or ...... well, it won't be pretty.

And by 'something done', I don't mean an editorial in the WAPO by Michael Steele saying how unfair this Commie Power Grab crap is.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.