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Do you enjoy WATER HUNTING or PROSPECTING DREDGING????
Land Rights Network
American Land Rights Association
PO Box 400 – Battle Ground, WA 98604
Phone: 360-687-3087 – Fax: 360-687-2973
E-mail: alra@pacifier.com
Web Address: http://www.landrights.org
Legislative Office: 507 Seward Square SE – Washington, DC 20003
Senate EPW Committee Passes Clean Water Land Grab (S 787)
Thursday, June 18, 2009 the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee passed S 787 as the Baucus- Klobuchar Substitute by a strictly party line vote of 12 Democrats to 7 Republicans. The Committee voted to take out the limitation in the Clean Water Act requiring the Corps of Engineers (Corps) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate only navigable waters. The modified version of S 787 gives the Corps and EPA the authority to regulate all waters of the United States. The Committee tried a trick by taking out the reference to “all activities affecting these waters” but everyone agrees that because of terminology elsewhere in the bill, the courts will still rule that the Corps of Engineers and Environmental Protection Agency will have the authority to regulate all activities affecting all waters of the United States. The EPW Committee voted to overturn the Rapanos and SWANCC Supreme Court Decisions of 2006 and 2001 which required the Corps and EPA to only regulate “Navigable” waters. As passed, “the term `waters of the United States' means all waters subject to the ebb and flow of the tide, the territorial seas, and all interstate and intrastate waters, including lakes, rivers, streams (including intermittent streams), mudflats, sandflats, wetlands, sloughs, prairie potholes, wet meadows, playa lakes, and natural ponds, all tributaries of any of the above waters, and all impoundments of the forgoing.’ You can see the full markup (vote) (called a Business Meeting) by going to the Senate Environment and Public Works website at http://epw.senate.gov/ Look for the Committee Business Meeting on June 18th.
Below is a one page release by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association that is very much worth your read.
Also below is a full list of the EPW Committee Members. It is critical that you write them new letters reflecting the new version of the bill. You can see the full text of the Baucus-Klobuchar Substitute of S 787 as voted out of the EPW Committee by going to www.landrights.org. Their phones and fax machines must ring off the hook. You can get e-mail addresses by calling your Senator and asking for the staff person who handles the Environment and Public Works Committee. Ask for his or her e-mail address. Send a new letter opposing the bill to your Senators and the Senators on the Committee referencing S 787 as passed out of the EPW Committee on June 18th. It is important to write a new letter because otherwise Chairman Barbara Boxer will say that your letter applies to the old bill before the vote on June 18th. That is the trick she used today at the vote meeting. It is very important to write a new letter referencing the June 18th vote to both your Senators plus the Ranking Member of the EPW Committee. He is: Honorable James Inhofe, Ranking Member, Environment and Public Works Committee, US Senate, Washington, DC 20210. You can fax it to (202) 224-5167. You can write any senator at: Honorable ________________ , US Senate, Washington, DC 20510. Call, fax and e-mail a new message to your Senators and the Senators on the EPW Committee. You can call all Senators on the EPW Committee at (202) 224-3121 or their individual offices listed below. EPW Comm: Democrats:…PH: 202-224-8832…Fax: 224-1273
Barbara Boxer, CA (Chair)…Ph: 202-224-3553…Fax 224-1454
Max Baucus, MT…Ph: 202-224-2651…Fax 224-9412
Thomas Carper, DE…Ph: 202-224-2441…Fax 228-2190
Frank Lautenberg NJ…Ph: 202-224-3224…Fax 228-4054
Benjamin Cardin, MD…Ph: 202-224-4524…Fax 224-1651
Bernard Sanders, VT (Ind)…Ph: 202-224-5141…Fax 228-0776
Amy Klobuchar, MN…Ph: 202-224-3244…Fax 228-2186
Sheldon Whitehouse, RI…Ph: 202-224-2921 Fax 228-6362
Tom Udall, NM…Ph: 202-224-6621…Fax 228-3261
Jeff Merkley OR…Ph: 202-224-3753…Fax 228-3997
Kirsten Gillibrand, NY…Ph: 202-224-4451…Fax 228-0282
Arlen Specter, PA…Ph: 202-222-4254…Fax 228-4254 EPW Republicans:…PH: 202-224-6176…Fax: 224-5167
James Inhofe, OK (Rnk. Mem.)…Ph: 202-224-4721…Fax 228-0380
George Voinovich, OH…Ph: 202-224-3353…Fax 228-1382
David Vitter, LA…Ph: 202-224-4623…Fax 228-5061
John Barrasso, WY…Ph: 202-224-6441…Fax 224-1724
Mike Crapo, ID…Ph: 202-224-6142…Fax 228-1375
Christopher Bond, MO…Ph: 202-224-5721…Fax 224-8149
Lamar Alexander, TN…Ph: 202-224-4944…Fax 228-3398
Action Items: -----1. Forward this message to your entire list if possible. -----2. Write a new letter referencing the vote on June 18 to the Honorable James Inhofe, Ranking Member, Environment and Public Works Committee, US Senate, Washington, DC 20210. You can fax it to (202) 224-5167. -----3. Write both your home state Senators at Honorable _____, US Senate, Washington, DC 20510. Write the Senators on the Environment and Public Works Committee using the list above opposing the new version of S 787 as passed by the EPW Committee. The Committee failed to hold hearings in this Congress. You can still ask your Senators and the Senators on the Committee to hold hearings. Ask them how they could vote on a bill without holding public hearings. Background: Congress Moves To Seize Control Of All U.S. Waters -----Do you want the Corps and EPA in your backyard? -----Do you want the EPA and Corps to control your water? -----Do you want the Corps and EPA to control all your watersheds that means all your land too? ------That’s what will happen if the new Clean Water Restoration Act (CWRA) (S787) passes Congress. -----Besides private property, the Clean Water Restoration Act (CWRA) (S 787) threatens businesses, agriculture, small communities, grazing, forestry, mining and many other uses on private and Federal land. It will affect many kinds of manufacturing companies and businesses. -----The Real Goal of the Clean Water Restoration Act (S787) is to give Corps and EPA Control over your water and all your watersheds. That means National Land Use Controls as well as control over all your water and land. That’s because all land is in a watershed. The proposed Clean Water Restoration Act (CWRA) (S787), which has no House bill number yet, will give the Corps and EPA jurisdiction and control over your property and water. -----It will redefine what the term “wetlands” means in the law. It will eliminate the requirement that the Corps and EPA limit their jurisdiction to “Navigable” waters and give those agencies control over all waters of the US and “activities” affecting those waters. The Clean Water Restoration Act (CWRA) will be introduced in the House shortly. ----- Maps showing existing Clean Water Act affected areas compared to the areas affected if the CWRA (Clean Water Restoration Act) if S 787 were to pass Congress are right on our homepage at www.landrights.org Your help is greatly appreciated. Chuck Cushman
Executive Director
American Land Rights Association
(360) 687-3087
ccushman@pacifier.com
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