Wyoming delegation: 'Blueways' designation a federal power grab

The seemingly innocuous National Blueways System for rivers has Wyoming’s congressional delegation seeing red. No new regulations or changes in governmental authority accompany the National Blueways System, according to the federal order that created the program. It will not change private property or water rights. But on Thursday, Sens. Mike Enzi and John Barrasso and Rep. Cynthia Lummis said in a statement that the program is a federal “power grab,” because it was created by a secretarial order and bypassed Congress. In a letter to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, the Wyoming delegation disagreed with the designation process, saying they believe it doesn’t include people on the ground in Wyoming. “Impacted individuals and communities should be brought into the process at the beginning, not after major decisions have been reached,” the letter states. “We ask that upon the receipt of a request for designation impacting any watershed in Wyoming, that local Wyoming stakeholders within the watersheds be immediately notified of the request.” Twenty-five Republicans in the Congressional Western Caucus sent Salazar a similar letter opposing the designation program. It includes the signatures of Enzi, Barrasso and Lummis. But a senior adviser for the Department of Interior “was out in Montana, advocating for the Yellowstone River and its entire watershed as a prime candidate for a Blueways designation,” said Christine D’Amico, a spokeswoman for Lummis. While the river flows through Montana and North Dakota, the headwaters of the Yellowstone River are in Wyoming. The watershed is mostly in Wyoming, D’Amico said. D’Amico said the Interior Department’s senior adviser visiting Montana was Rebecca Wodder. President Barack Obama nominated Wodder as an assistant secretary for the Interior Department but dropped it when he didn’t receive Senate Republican support. She has an “activist background,” D’Amico said...more

Just a simple administrative designation. No impact on rights.  Sure.  Do they really expect us to believe this designation won't effect the decision making process of federal, state and local governments?

Besides, the administrative approach will hang around, pick up supporters here and there, and the next thing you know legislation will be introduced to authorize such designations and give them some teeth.