| For the week of July 27, 2009 |
Regulations Slippery if Extended to Everything That’s Wet |
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The term “slippery slope” is ubiquitously used to warn against regulatory creep that may happen if a bill is passed. In the case of the Clean Water Act, we don’t have to wonder if the predictions will become a reality. We know from the regulatory creep that already has occurred that we’re about halfway down the slope.
Now, a bill that’s being considered by Congress would push us even further – to the point where every puddle that accumulates after a rainfall could potentially be regulated by Uncle Sam.
That bill, the Clean Water Restoration Act, actually does not restore anything. It would expand Uncle Sam’s current authority to regulate “navigable” waterways to all “waters of the U.S.” Anywhere that water collects could be subject to rules requiring federal permits for moving dirt, constructing ponds, building flood prevention structures and making other changes to the land. It can take up to two years to obtain the type of permit that would be required.
One of the worst results for individual landowners is that many who don’t think their property comes under Clean Water Act regulations could unknowingly violate them if they make changes such as improving drainage or even just by switching from producing one crop to another. They could find that they’ve slipped right into a swamp of permit requirements or penalties that add up to tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. And the way the bill is written, even land that is dry most of the time might be declared a “water of the U.S.” The legislation also would open the door for every citizen activist with a lawyer to sue landowners for activities on their land if they felt they violated the law.
Of course proponents of the bill claim it’s needed to protect waters and wetlands. The truth is that it would overturn decades of law under which the federal government regulates navigable and related waterways while each state is allowed to make its own determination on its own waters. Adding another layer of regulation by the federal government would usurp the state’s right to regulate its own waters and increase red tape, not water quality.
Also, landowners already are restoring wetlands; more than 3 million acres of wetlands have been restored, created and protected in the last five years.
The history of the Clean Water Act since its enactment in 1972 is replete with instances in which federal agencies interpreted the law to narrow the exemption for normal farming activities. Federal agencies also have tried to exclude temporary rice levies and normal crop rotational practices from the exemption.
When it comes to the Clean Water Act, we don’t have to guess how slippery the slope could be. It’s already rather slippery. And if the Clean Water “Restoration” Act is approved, farmers and a lot of other landowners would find themselves slipping all the way under water.
Tell your senators and representative in Congress not to fall for this effort to overreach into everyone’s backyard.
Lynne Finnerty is the editor of FBNews, the official newspaper of the American Farm Bureau Federation.