CLEAN WATER ACT EXPANSION SCRUTINIZED IN HOUSE HEARING
News Date July 28, 2009
Efforts to expand federal jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act faced opposition during a hearing of the House Small Business Committee last week. Representatives from the agriculture industry and small business advocates testified in the hearing that proposals to extend jurisdiction would negatively impact agriculture producers and other rural small businesses.
Members of the Committee on both sides of the isle expressed serious reservations over legislation that passed out of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee last month. The legislation, the Clean Water Restoration Act (S. 787), would extend federal jurisdiction over such waterways as intrastate waters, isolated ponds, and intermittent streams, by removing “navigable” from the definition of “waters of the United States.”
Witnesses before the committee cited increased costs, new regulatory burdens, and threats of lawsuits as the likely results of the proposed legislation.
Members of the committee expressed similar concerns and pointed out that the current permit backlog of 15,000 to 20,000 requests would be compounded by thousands more if the legislation was enacted. (Policy Contact: Nathan Bowen)