Ditch” EPA’s land grabbing water rule Written by Reid Rosenthal on June 13, 2014 · Have a comment? EPA’s proposed new Clean Water Act (“CWA”) rule is EPA’s latest installment in its efforts to expand the power of unelected federal bureaucrats over Americans’ ability to use their own land. The CWA grants EPA power to regulate the “navigable” “waters of the United States” (“WOTUS”). In the past EPA tried to expand its CWA authority, but got slapped down hard by Supreme Court decisions such as Solid Wast Agency of Northern Cook County v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Rapanos v. United States which told EPA that it had no power over waters which lack a “significant nexus to navigable waters.” EPA tried for power over water with “any hydrological connection” to navigable waters, but the Court said no. EPA plaque Now EPA is back with a rule-making vengeance and is in effect seeking authority to control every ditch it can get its regulatory hands on, so long as it has “banks,” and occasionally holds water that through whatever indirect route might find itself connected to other waterways. In effect, EPA wants to grab power over huge amounts of American land in ways that will burden us all. The House of Representatives is conducting a hearing on EPA’s new WOTUS rule today. The deadline for public comment has been extended to October 20, 2014. Farmers are fed up with federal attempts to expand power over their land use and they take no comfort from statements promising them a pass. Take a look at this hard-hitting video one farm family made for the Missouri Farm Bureau. “That’s enough” they tell us in song, time to “ditch the rule.” They couldn’t be more right. “Don’t need more government anyway.” Take a look: – See original post here.