Washington should be focused on fostering job growth, not shackling small businesses and farmers with job killing federal restrictions by expanding federal control over all wet areas of a State.  

THE CLEAN WATER RESTORATION ACT (CWRA)

Few things have been more important than water in the settlement and development of the West.   The continued development and regulation of scarce water resources remain a critical factor in the future of all western states.   For this reason, westerners oppose any legislative efforts which would expand the federal jurisdiction over all water within the United States.  S. 787, the Clean Water Restoration Act, and its House counterpart, H.R. 5088, would grant the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Army Corps of Engineers, virtually unlimited regulatory control over all wet areas within a state.  This bill attempts to trump states’ rights and pre-empts state and local governments from making local land and water use decisions.

This bill will also build an even more expensive, cumbersome Washington bureaucracy. Expanding Washington bureaucracy will increase delays in securing permits and will slow or stop vital economic activities not just in the West but all across the country.  Commercial and residential real estate development, agriculture, energy development, electric transmission, transportation, mining and other natural resources industries will all be effected.  Thousands of jobs will be lost. 

ECONOMIC IMPACT  

•  “To classify ‘intrastate’ waters as ‘waters of the U.S.’ will eliminate the current separation between the state and federal government, bringing the federal government into local land use decisions.  Federal preemption of state and local law presents a very serious challenge to our constitutional system of federalism.  By preempting state and local laws, you reduce the ability of state and local governments to do their job effectively.  If a local government has been preempted, then its ability to respond quickly is taken away.” (National Association of Counties, 4/9/2008)
• “’It's a huge grab for more federal intervention in our lives, and we don't need that," says Montana cattle rancher Randy Smith says.’” (USA Today,  5/21/08)
• “The CWRA is an invitation for federal regulators (or environmental organizations filing lawsuits) to shut down any use of land that they don’t like so long as there is a little water somewhere in the vicinity. If the past is any guide, this law will be used to stop a tremendous amount of economic activity.” (Heritage Foundation, 6/17/09)