EPA POWER GRAB TO REGULATE DITCHES, GULLIES ON PRIVATE PROPERTY

human events ^ | june 11, 2012 | Audrey Hudson

[lowbridge]

Lawmakers are working to block an unprecedented power grab by the Environmental Protection Agency to use the Clean Water Act (CWA) and control land alongside ditches, gullies and other ephemeral spots by claiming the sources are part of navigable waterways.

These temporary water sources are often created by rain or snowmelt, and would make it harder for private property owners to build in their own backyards, grow crops, raise livestock and conduct other activities on their own land, lawmakers say.

“Never in the history of the CWA has federal regulation defined ditches and other upland features as ‘waters of the United States,’” said Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.), the ranking committee member, and Rep. Bob Gibbs (R-Ohio), chairman of the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment.

“This is without a doubt an expansion of federal jurisdiction,” the lawmakers said in a May 31 letter to House colleagues.

[beethovenfan]

The EPA is totally out of control and must be stopped.

[FlingWingFlyer]

Remember when the commie libs kept whining about President Bush trying to take away their rights, liberty and freedom? Where the hell are the lowlifes from the aCLU?

[pallis]

Everyone wants big government, and big government all they are going to have before long.

[rcrngroup]

I think on most farms & ranches, if some bureacrat EPA thug moron shows up to monitor culverts & ditches with rain water or snow melt, they might just end up picking themselves out of the manure pile. Most farmers will tell these bastards to take a hike and get off their land before the dogs are loosed on them.

[Cowman]

I was at a town meeting in a small MA town a couple years ago when the issue of a “ditch warden” came to the floor. The First Selectman actually said, “We need to vote for the ditch warden because Beacon Hill has directed us to have one.” When I asked why we were voting if the state had already made up our minds I got blank stares. The ditch warden position was voted in with only my dissenting vote.

[trubolotta]

It's the butterfly affect. A soda-burp in Central Park may cause a Typhoon in China. An errant corn seed dropped in a gully in Iowa could cause a drought in Kansas. A 100 watt light bulb switched on in Pennsylvania could cause a blackout in New England. Therefore, anything and everything is the government's business.

[Scrambler Bob]

When I first saw this I thought — what about clouds? That’s where the water comes from!

CCR was ahead of their time:

Long as I remember the rain been comin’ down
Clouds of mystery pourin’ confusion on the ground.

...Who’ll Stop The Rain? (The EPA will)

[GeorgeWashingtonsGhost]

Indeed..

THE ACLU LOVES OBAMA/HOLDER/NAPOLITANO'S DRONES TOO?

[listenhillary]

those sons of a ditches.

[FlingWingFlyer]

Excellent point! It appears the aCLU only cares when religion and/or homosexuality is involved.

[formosa]

One of the first things a GOP presidency should do is dismantle to EPA and the Energy Dept. These hacks are out of control.

[Red Badger]

...they might just end up picking themselves out of the manure pile.

No, they will become part of it.......

[Red Badger]

Are there no gay farmers, then?...........

[Jacquerie]

How low can this republic sink and still be a republic?

In the very first clause of the first section of the first Article of our Constitution, we the people granted limited legislative powers to our representatives.

Said representatives now petition, request, implore the commissars of their own making to stop issuing certain diktats. The unconstitutional and tyrannical administrative state is killing us.

There is no moral nor legal imperative to obey any law or reg from our government that has not been passed by Congress and signed by the Prez.

[Paladin2]

Just wait until the UN p0wnz your gutters and downspouts (and personal pee output).

[Freedom_Is_Not_Free]

Are you not aware that the Fed Gov shut off 100% of the water to many central California farms, deferring to EPA and in favor of a 2” long fish. This caused their land to go completely barren and they lost an entire years produce. Some have gone bankrupt.

If Farmers will let their farms go barren without water, and lose a year’s income due to EPA enforcement, then I don’t see them fighting over a ditch.

In a sane world, we would be charging the doors of EPA with ropes in hand, but that is not the world we live in. Instead, EPA destroys farms with impunity.

[John W]

We do not live in what would be considered an overly environmentally conscious state and I guarantee you if the Indiana Department of Environmental Management sees water somewhere it is water of the state in their eyes. Been that way for some time.

[shotdog]

or a strange smell in the hay mow. sd

[shotgun]

The Corpse of Engineers tried this with the irrigation districts and it didn’t go well for COE...