Since Republicans won an overwhelming majority in the House, we’ve seen the new crop of Tea Party Freshmen move hungrily from taxes, through education, social services and fundamental public safety regulations, attempting to gut and devour the systems that have kept this country’s hopes and dreams alive since the 1930’s. The next victim of the mob may well be our clean water supply.
Though unlikely to pass, the Clean Water Federalism Act of 2011 may be an early warning that interstate water-grabs are about to heat up; but let’s not get too far ahead of the story right now.
As its title suggests, HR2018 would take all power to regulate water quality away from the EPA and return it to the individual states.
It would prohibit the federal government from “specification of any defined area as a disposal site for the discharge of dredged or fill material into navigable waters,” so if the state does not believe the dumped material would harm drinking water or fisheries, then chemical dumping and manufacturing runoff would not be prevented.
Bad as that may sound, it is just the narrow edge of the wedge.
In the event that this or similar legislation finally managed to worm its way through to passage under a future Republican president, it would no doubt be challenged in the Supreme Court. As currently constituted, and unless major changes in ideological representation on the Court were to happen between now and then, I think we can all imagine a scenario in which the Supreme Court finds in favor of the constitutionality of such a bill.
Once control of water quality is legally ceded to the individual states, it will be just a matter of time before water and all natural resources will come under the sole purview of individual states.
As pure water becomes less and less freely available, look for hostile damming, drilling and denial of access between neighboring states. Water-rich states will punish and manipulate dry states through restrictive water policy. Poorly managed states will negotiate to lease or maybe even sell their water rights to bottlers and speculators for a thirsty world market.
Add competition over clean water to the greatest income inequity in the developed world and you have the key ingredients for civil unrest; quite possibly for civil war.
Clean water is the one essential resource that no one can do without. Its further manipulation and commoditization could very well mean the end of the United States as we know it.
Yes, deregulate on clean water while allowing the Corporate Reich to grab what’s left and you’ve got water as an ‘upscale’ commodity–how much per gallon; more than gas? Next, in the name of ‘states’ rights’ and ‘defederalization’ the states will be allowed to defy those pesky Civil Rights acts of the sixties; anything ‘federal’ that relates to fair pay and employment for women, gays, minorities, etc.; and, hell, you name it. It’s funny how the Tea Party nitwits want federal government out of our lives and state government in our lives. And who does all this benefit? Not the ‘real people’ the Tea Party says it represents.
LBJ missed this in the sixties. He should have strong-armed through a federal law requiring ‘some standards’ for being a Congressperson. Shit.
exactly what problem is this legislation supposed to solve?
hey, if water issues can be contained within state boundaries, why not air? if Ohio & Kentucky really like to burn coal, who are we to interfere?
It could cause states, especially the residents to recognize pure water as a finite resource as VT did when passing Act 189, however EPA rules still come into play here. This could cause states to choose between industrial pollution or clean water.
New York state passed, or will soon a water quality law which will very likely put the kibosh on Indian Point. This will very likely be the new direction states will go in getting rid of nuclear power plants since NRC will have difficulty overuling this.
Texas admittedly falsifies testing records for nuclear contamination in the drinking water & unashamedly defends the practice as the right of their state to do so, despite toothless EPA ‘warning’ them to stop. Rick Perry is well aware of the practice.
Oyster Creek in NJ has contaminated the aquifer for S.Jersey, Braidwood contaminated drinking water in IL. In both cases states were held hostage to the necessity of electricity or excessive litigation.
These are only nuclear power examples, I’m sure there are other types of contamination states have allowed for similiar reasons.
This would allow states to set their own water quality regulations relying on thier own data & studies rather than EPA which has tritium allowance per liter higher than Europe or at least UK by a factor of 10 which is not small. Hopefully nuclear sponsored ORNL slanted studies will no longer be relied upon.
Scrubbers used by coal plants dump their contamination into the water instead of the air.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10…
Where is the EPA as all of this takes place?
…that they want to go back to the Articles of Confederation?