Issues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship.
Thursday, July 24, 2014
Property Rights at Stake in EPA’s Water Power Grab
Thanks to the federal government, it soon may become far more
difficult to use and enjoy private property. The Environmental
Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers want to make a
water—and land—grab that should scare everyone. Under the Clean Water Act, the federal government has jurisdiction over “navigable waters,” which the statute further defines as “the waters of the United States, including the territorial seas.” Property owners often need to get permits
if waters covered under the law will be impacted. Therefore, a critical
question is what types of “waters” are covered under the CWA. That’s
what the EPA and Corps seek to address with a new proposed rule
that would define “the waters of the United States.” As expected, the
EPA and the Corps are seeking to expand their authority to cover waters
never imagined when the Clean Water Act was passed in 1972. For example, the new proposed rule would regulate all ditches,
except in narrow circumstances. This even includes man-made ditches.
The rule would apply to tributaries that have ephemeral flow. This would
include depressions in land that are dry most of the year except when there’s heavy rain...more
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