Oberstar offers Clean Water legislation

Congressman Jim Oberstar Tueday introduced legislation to fix the Clean Water Act after it was damaged by two U.S. Supreme Court rulings.
The pair of rulings issued in 2001 and 2006 question the ability of the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to enforce the Clean Water Act on wetlands, streams and ponds that are not part of a major "navigable" waterway.
Oberstar, D-Minn., noted that the act will not impact Minnesota wetlands nor create onerous new rules or regulations.
Instead, he says, it will restore the authority of the act and reaffirm exemptions for farming, mining, logging and other activities that are not regulated by the Clean Water Act.
"These (court) rulings ignore everything we have learned about water pollution and wetland conservation," said Oberstar. "You have to control pollution at its source. If you wait until it hits a major waterway it is too late to deal with the problem effectively."
The Clean Water Act has also helped stop the draining of wetlands across the country.
"You only have to look at the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina and the flooding on the Mississippi River in the mid 1990's to see how wetlands protect us, holding back flood waters," said Oberstar. "Wetlands also filter ground water and allow it to recharge aquifers. The Ogallala Aquifer provides water to eight states from Nebraska to Texas, but many of the wetlands that filter and recharge it have lost their protection due to these Supreme Court rulings."  
Because Minnesota's Wetlands Conservation Act is more restrictive than the federal Clean Water Act, CWRA will not have any impact on the way wetlands are regulated in Minnesota, according to Oberstar.
However, CWRA's passage will eliminate a complex new jurisdictional application that has been added to the federal permitting process because of the two Supreme Court rulings. That paperwork adds up to three months of processing time to a wetlands permit, the congressman noted.
"We need to make it easier to get wetlands permits. But the Supreme Court is making the process even more complex and time consuming," said Oberstar.  
Oberstar is introducing the Clean Water Restoration Act of 2007 along with U.S. Reps. John Dingell and Vernon Ehlers, both of Michigan. The bill has 150 co-sponsors.  Additionally, CWRA is endorsed by 300 organizations representing the conservation community, family farmers, fishers, boaters, labor unions and civic associations.
"This bill is designed to restore the authority of the Clean Water Act so it has the same effect it had prior to the Supreme Court's rulings," said Oberstar. "This legislation will not create onerous new rules or regulations."
The first sentence of the act reads: "The Purpose of this act is as follows: To reaffirm the original intent of Congress in enacting the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972 (86 Stat. 816) to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the waters of the United States."