by Gayle Plato

The auspicious moment arrived this morning, of a pseudo-religious movement of the left- Earth Day. My six year old jumped for joy as he was told to wear green and comply. You’d have thought it was Halloween. But then, there’s something a bit more spooky in the shadows of the Green grassy knolls of liberal projection.

But the costumes dressing up this moment cannot compete with the dressing down any conservative questioning some Green logic gets. Like any reality, there are subtle elements to the debate. Saving the world one lib bulb at a time sounds so cool, and we all like being able to help out. But then the mercury inside the new bulb blows out and you’re a personal superfund site, with your six year old now in a scrub down from the likes of the movie Silkwood. How green is the Valley when our new fangled ways poison more than the old?

This week, the trend is to tell us that the water supply of the west is drying up. The Colorado River is disappearing, all of us need to conserve, and it’s a matter of national security as the local regulation is not keeping poisons out of the supply. Um, wait a minute; is this another example of a need to ‘streamline’ controls? You know the states; they are not very good at doing any of the daily management anyway. Probably, we need the Environmental Protection Agency, with the help of Department of Homeland Security to come in and say that all water supplies are going to be federally managed.

Enter the new and shiny bill: Text of S.787: Clean Water Restoration Act, started by Russ Feingold in the Senate. (http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s111-787)

This is a newer version of H.R. 2421 that died last session. The Bush administration was attacked online, and in much green news as this is called clean water legislation. It’s not easy being green when your rightward lean lends to a critical question. Everyone, read this bill on Earth Day, and think about how federal control happens. It’s Kumbayah with your Kindergartener as they tell you to dim your lights and hug MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann. It’s cute storybooks written with slogans about keeping the water clean, with a nifty character that looks like a rain drop tele-tubbie my son brought home. Aww.

Currently, ground water and surface waters are regulated very differently. Some waters are considered ‘of the United States’ and some are not. This bill, in affect, is trying extend the definition of United States water. The current definition of U.S. waters relates to navigable waters. This new law includes all intra-states, and basically lists literally every major puddle and bigger. Virtually any water is under regulated U.S. water. If correct, even a little creek flowing across your property or in your subdivision, is under United States control. Try and get a permit as a builder when this law goes real time.

The water of the U.S. means subject to federal law, is navigable water ways and that is the original intent. The Salt or Gila are navigable. The new writing means that environmentalist can challenge ANY WATER in the U.S. Unless there is a de-minimus definition to it, still allowing state primacy, then there is no stopping all water being controlled. All in the name of Green.

The economy will dictate the entire issue of federalization of state programs. So it goes, one drop at a time.

There is a change of definition to control. This is not regulation- it is about CONTROL. Water is EVERYTHING: a power grab right through the drinking fountain, with a dancing raindrop as the poster child. 

More later as I keep investigating this, but for now I have to dim the lights as my son is getting home from Earth Day.