Using Water to Take the Land

Since its enactment, the Clean Water Act of 1972 has led to significant and continued improvement in the quality of the nation’s waters. The law sounds good- everyone wants clean water, right? By in large, it has been a successful piece of legislation. Among other things, it has lead to stronger silt control legislation for construction sites and has made factories clean up their waste before it is put back into the water cycle.
The current law does rightly limit government authority over folks private property, and, as always, some government agencies have made attempts to overstep these boundaries. The US Supreme Court has made at least 2 decisions that Federal Agencies exceeded the authority granted them by this act. Rather than accept the High Court’s decisions in these cases, our Congress has decided to change the language of these laws.

House Resolution 2421 and Senate 1870 are pieces of legislation in The US Congress which will do just that. They were both introduced in 2007 and 2008, and in both cases, they were not voted on. They will likely be reintroduced in this new session, and many property rights groups and industry watchdogs believe this may be the year for a similar bill’s passage.

The House version is sponsored by Representative Oberstar and 171 Representatives, and the Senate version by Senator Feingold and 21 other Senators. The framers of these resolutions have very cleverly changed the wording in the current law from reading “Navigable Waters” to instead read “Waters of the United States”. The bill then defines that new term to include not only what was before considered navigable, but also even the water that will one day, through whatever means, wind up in those waters. 

Remember the water cycle from 4th grade science?

We are talking about every drop of water in the US!

Here's how:
To protect shipping and commerce, the Federal Government OWNS and controls US Navigable Waters. This little change in wording means they’ll own ALL the water! Every drop that falls on your land, every drop that is underground below your property, every drop that is in your pipes, and oh, by the way: humans are about 60% water by weight!
It may go even farther than that, though- the broad definition in this act has been construed to possibly include most land in the US, since it, too contains water. Minnesota State Representative Steve Drazkowski alluded to this in his letter to US Rep Tim Walz.
Freedom loving people should consider this abhorrent legislation! Please follow the links and look at the sponsors of these resolutions and see if any of them have sworn to represent you. Call your US Representatives and Congressmen and let them know that you expect them to uphold their oath and stand against this attempted power grab!
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