EPA issues new rule expanding reach over waters

The Environmental Protection Agency announced a rule Wednesday that critics say would expand federal reach over U.S. waterways, but that the Obama administration contends will clarify which farming, development and other practices are subject to regulation. --The battle over the "Waters of the U.S." rule has been brewing for months and will continue both on and off Capitol Hill. The regulation attempts to define Clean Water Act regulations as stretching to bodies of water that have a "significant nexus" with "navigable waters" to prevent pollution of drinking water.

Read more at the Washington Examiner
(Hat tip: KimR) Read More......

House votes to block EPA from implementing new water-regulation plan

The House of Representatives on Tuesday voted to block the EPA from implementing a new plan that critics say could significantly broaden the agency's ability to impose environmental regulations over America's waterways. --Many farmers and landowners across the country say rules proposed last year by the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would give federal regulators even more say over waters. The issue had become a hotly contested one for many who say there are already too many government regulations affecting their businesses.

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Maps Developed in Secret Suggest EPA May Be Expanding Water Regulation

BISMARCK, N.D. — A map developed by the EPA and released to a U.S. House committee investigating controversial proposed water regulations should have citizens concerned, says U.S. Rep. Kevin Cramer. “It is certainly alarming the EPA would develop these maps in secret and only release them after being confronted by members of Congress,” Cramer, a Republican, said in a news release accompanying his office’s release of the maps. “The EPA has been hiding information which could upset the public and jeopardize its massive power grab of unprecedented authority over private and public water.”

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Obama: CA Central Valley drought due to climate change

Snip…
Actually, the problem for Central Valley farmers is that their water got taken from them by a federal judge, who put a baitfish ahead of human beings. Central Valley’s water-management system was designed to deal with droughts that last as long as five years, but the reservoirs that held its lifeblood got emptied into the ocean to rescue the Delta smelt. It began five years ago, and as Investors Business Daily reports, the locals remember it better than Obama does:

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EPA says WATER is a pollutant; Virginia AG sues

A heated legal battle between Virginia officials and the Environmental Protection Agency over what EPA critics describe as a land takeover gets its day in federal court Friday. ✧ The EPA, citing an abundance of stormwater runoff, has proposed a plan that Virginia officials say would cost them nearly half a billion dollars -- and could cost homeowners and businesses their private property.

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, a Republican, says what the EPA has proposed is "illegal," and he's not alone in the fight. He's been joined in a lawsuit against the federal agency by the Democratic-controlled Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. ✧ Cuccinelli argues that what the EPA has planned would require state and county officials to "take people's houses, evict them, knock the houses down and plant grass." Read more at Fox News...

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Alsea Valley Alliance Showing Important Video - You're Invited!

VIDEO
UNITED NATION’S PLAN
NOW BEING IMPLEMENTED
BY THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (EPA)
RESULTING IN EPA’S ATTEMPT TO CONTROL ALL WATERWAYS IN THE U.S. & BENTON COUNTY’S PLAN TO IMPLEMENT REGULATED RIPERARIAN BUFFERS ON PRIVATE PROPERTY
VIDEO WILL BE SHOWN ON FRIDAY, JUNE 24 AT 7PM IN THE ALSEA LIBRARY MEETING ROOM
EVERYONE INVITED
PRESENTED BY ALSEA VALLEY ALLIANCE

All Benton County residents should become well-informed on these issues. --bc Read More......

The Left wants to control all water and land, any way they can!

NUNES BLOG, 12/15/2010 by Representative Devin Nunes Blog (R-CA) - Feinstein Embraces “Pearl Harbor Style” Legislating "Radical environmentalists have realized that they cannot win a public debate arguing that a two-inch bait fish is more important than families in the San Joaquin Valley and are scrambling for a new message. They are also crafting a sneak attack to take control of our water.

The Left’s need to re-image the Delta water debate is particularly desperate due to a ruling in the U.S. District Court which rebuked the federal government as having used “sloppy science” to justify the man-made drought. Judge Oliver Wanger ordered federal agencies back to the drawing board.

However, the Left is already pressing ahead with its backup plan with the help of Senator Dianne Feinstein. That plan is concealed in massive $1.1 trillion federal spending bill for 2012 and would designate the entire Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta as a National Heritage Area. If it becomes law, the Heritage designation would establish a new federal mandate to protect the natural, scenic, historic, cultural, and recreational resources of the Delta - a thinly veiled effort to cut off valley water supplies." Read more at Nunes Blog to see what is contained in the Omnibus bill (p. 880) regarding CA waters...

RELATED
MICHELLE MALKIN, 12/15/2010 by Michelle Malkin - Omnibus double whammy: The Dems’ lame-duck land grabs

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Note: If you haven't yet read Holly Swanson's book Set Up & Sold Out: Find Out What Green Really Means you need to do so, NOW! --bc Read More......

ALERT: S-510 Food Takeover Act, S-787 Water Takeover Act

FREE REPUBLIC (Hat tip: Linda Weimer) - "Congress will convene November 15 to try to force into law all the things they didn't get done during the regular session. No one knows for sure just which bills will be on Nancy and Harry's agenda. It's Harry's agenda that is most important because the Senate - with 60 votes required to stop debate - offers the best opportunity to stop a bill.

S-510 - Food Safety Modernization Act - is one of the bills that must be stopped. Doreen Hannes has been following this bill for several organizations during its entire existence. Here's some of her reasons why the bill must be stopped. Doreen says:

"In a nutshell, S510 is effectively NAIS (National Animal Identification System) for everything. It is a tremendous amount of additional enforcement (fines and penalties, license revocations, further license requirements, control over processes and harvest) which are definite issues with the bill as it currently exists. However, not unlike the "Health Care" bill, they will have to pass this to see what it actually does.

"Here's why....In S 510, the FDA is instructed to follow all international agreements. One of the issues with international 'guidelines and standards' is "Good Agricultural Practices". Well those are not necessarily good. Most GAP certifying bodies have checklists about 25 pages long for growers to follow. They all require traceability (i.e., NAIS) they also require auditing, verifying and certifying the processes used to produce a consumable product for human or animal feed. Every step in GAP costs the grower of food money and a good deal of paperwork. What happens if you're better at growing food than filing forms? You will be penalized (i.e., more money). Sec 420 is exceptionally dangerous in my eyes. It subjects all farms that 'produce' milk to risk assessment and management (i.e., insurance).

"The idea that exemptions will be helpful is rose-colored-glasses thinking. Exemptions can easily be taken away or modified without Congressional oversight through the regulatory process. Most farmers aren't watching the Federal Register like hawks.

"The FDA has plenty of authority to protect the anonymous food supply already. But they don't. Instead, they put small entities out of business through Hazard Analasis & Critical Control Points (HACCP), also to be expanded in this bill, and heavier regulations that are not helpful to smaller economies of scale. The FDA inspects less than 1% of imported produce, has performed inspections on less than 25% of processing failties[sic] [facilities] that they are authorized to inspect (in a five year period) and they ALREADY have authority over live food animals on the farm. The USDA authority is over animal disease."

S-787 - Clean Water Restoration Act - will give the federal government jurisdiction over all water, everywhere, as well as jurisdiction over all activity that affects water wherever it may be. This would give to the federal government effective control over every square inch of land in the United States. It too, must be stopped. (see video 3:30)"

Please register your concerns with your senators:

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D) - DC (202) 224-3753, Salem (503) 362-8102
Sen. Ron Wyden (D) - DC (202) 224-5244, Salem (503) 589-4555

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