Fellow American,
The EPA is issuing a new regulation that changes a key portion of the Clean Water Act and it puts almost every single piece of private property in danger!
The Clean Water Act has always allowed the EPA to regulate “navigable” waterways. This means that in order for a plot of property to fall under the EPA’s purview, it would need to have enough water to be navigable by boat.
This wording was used to lump rivers, streams, lakes, bays, etc. into one grouping.
On paper this sounds good. Don’t get me wrong: I am no supporter of heavy-handed government regulation, which the EPA has become known for.
But the problem is that the EPA is quietly trying to remove this one word from the law that would give the agency almost unlimited regulatory control over land in the United States!
The EPA is trying to drop the word “navigable,” which would give the government regulatory control over any piece of land that receives any rainfall in a calendar year!
This is already happening… The EPA is coming down on farmers’ irrigation ditches and homeowners’ retention ponds. The EPA is perverting its mandate in an attempt to increase regulations on American home and property owners!
It is amazing how one word can change the entire meaning of a law.
By removing the word “navigable,” the EPA is giving itself the authority to regulate any land that has a so much as a puddle on it.
If your land receives rainwater, the EPA would have the authority to approve or deny any development on your land by classifying it as “wetlands.”
If this happens to you, the EPA could fine you $75,000 every day and force you to restore your property to its original conditions.
This is really a simple fix. All Congress has to do is pass a one sentence-long piece of legislation clarifying that the EPA’s authority in the Clean Water Act applies only to navigable waterways.
Government agents shouldn’t be allowed to reclassify property as wetlands and fine citizens $75k/day just because of a few puddles, a drainage pond, or irrigation ditches.
If the EPA is allowed to implement this change, then no one is safe!
Everyone else is at risk of having their property seized or having the EPA dictate the land use decisions of homeowners, small businesses, and local communities across the country.
This is a BIG deal! The Obama administration is hard at work trying to label critics of this rule change as “opponents of clean water.”
This has NOTHING to do with water. This has everything to do with giving the EPA another way to overregulate Americans and seize private property!
There is absolutely no need for this. But the EPA isn’t interested in saving the environment… It is interested in fining you so much that you just give up and hand over your property!
No one should have to worry about the EPA fining them for no reason!
No one should have to worry about losing their property because it happens to rain!
If this rule change is implemented, the EPA would be allowed to evict a family and order the demolition of their home simply because there are puddles on the property!
Sincerely,
Joe Otto
Conservative Daily
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