Administrator

The Board of Directors of the Greater Las Cruces Chamber of Commerce voted on Oct. 27, 2009, to oppose the Clean Water Restoration Act (U.S. Senate Bill 787) sponsored by Sen. Russell Reingold (D-Wis.). S.B. 787 passed out of committee this June and is scheduled to come before the full Senate in the fall.

The purpose of the bill is to update the jurisdiction of the federal government over the waters of the United States by removing the term "navigable" from the language of the original Clean Water Act of 1972, effectively giving the federal government jurisdiction over every drop of surface water, even intermittent streams in the country.

"This is an egregious infringement of private-property rights, and it interferes with the property management and business operations of our thriving agriculture industry," said U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), who added that the deletion of the word "navigable" could facilitate "the largest federal land grab in our nation's history."

The bill reads, "The term 'waters of the United States' means all waters subject to the ebb and flow of the tide, the territorial seas and all interstate and intrastate waters and their tributaries, including lakes, rivers, streams (including intermittent streams), mud flats, sand flats, wetlands, sloughs, prairie potholes, wet meadows, playa lakes, natural ponds, and all impoundments of the foregoing, to the fullest extent that these waters, or activities affecting these waters, are subject to the legislative power of Congress under the Constitution."

Tributaries include drainage ditches and even French drains on private property. Currently there is no legislative definition of "activities affecting these waters" on the books so S.B. 787 could allow federal regulation of any and all "activities" that affect waters, paving the way for a bureaucratic morass of new rules, regulations and permits that could affect us all.

According to John Hernandez of the New Mexico State University Department of Civil Engineering, cooperative agreements between the City of Las Cruces and the Elephant Butte Irrigation District (EBID) could be in jeopardy because of S.B. 787. EBID previously had an exemption from permitting requirements, but if EBID is required to permit its normal operation and management functions, it will have no choice but to not allow municipal or other public entity storm-flow into EBID structures.  

Strong opposition to S.B. 787 has also come from the National Water Resources Association (NWRA), an organization that includes membership from various state water agencies and irrigation districts west of the Mississippi. A major concern of the NWRA is that, if coverage of the Act moves from "navigable" to "waters of the U.S." that permits will be required for water transfers from one point to another such as San Juan Chama water that is transferred from the Colorado River into the Rio Grande.

For more information on S.B. 787, contact the EBID at 526-6671.