States Rights

Another Federal power grab is about to happen if you don’t stop it.

Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) introduced S. 787 on April 2, 2009. The bill, known as the Clean Water Restoration Act, would redefine the government’s control over water. The bill is currently in the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works and already carries 24 cosponsors.

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved the Clean Water Restoration Act (S. 787) by a vote of 12-7 on June 18, 2009. U.S. Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) is a ranking member of the Environment and Public Works Committee and has recently issued a warning against the passage of S. 787. The legislation is the “biggest bureaucratic power grab in a generation,” Inhofe said: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9IT5sz2aQY

The committee vote was a strictly partisan vote as Democrats voted FOR the bill while Republicans voted AGAINST it.

Since Senator Mike Crapo (R-ID) moved to put a hold on S. 787, it cannot be voted on until at least 60 Senators vote to remove the hold. This adds an additional step to the process so the bill can’t be rushed through. Hopefully this will force more Senators to read the bill and gain even more opposition to its passage.

Please e-mail your Senators requesting that they reject this bill.

More info:
Among other things, S. 787 would amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (enacted in 1972) by striking the term “navigable waters” from the bill and replacing it with “waters of the United States.”

What does that mean to you? Simply put, it would federalize basically every water deposit within the United States and place restrictions on landowners. How long would it then be before our water rights, once seized by the feds, come under the jurisdiction of the United Nations? (See L.O.S.T.)

Senator Judd Gregg
Senator Jeanne Shaheen

Note: According to GovTrack’s website, bills can ‘disappear’ like this but the text can reappear in another bill. Keep your ear to the ground for this type of legislation.