The Clean Water Restoration Act of 2009 (S. 787), legislation that would challenge several Supreme Court rulings, is moving through the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee without a hearing. Re-introduced by Sen. Russell Feingold, this legislation seeks to re-establish the nearly unlimited powers of the Clean Water Act lost due to U.S. Supreme Court decisions in 2001 and 2006. The bill aims to restore protection of wetlands and waterways but does so by mandating all waters, including interstate, intrastate, and non-navigable waters, be placed under regulatory control of the federal government.
Property owners beware, this bill is nothing more than a glorified federal “land grab”. The Clean Water Act’s 37 years of federal abuse caused by confusion and uncertainty was clarified in U.S. Supreme Court cases the Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (2001) and Rapanos v. U.S. (2006). Both of these cases succeeded in preventing further abuse by limiting the previously broad definition of that will federal government even more power and more reasons to take taxpayers land.
The Property Rights Alliance sent a legislative alert to members of Congress urging opposition to S. 787