Clean Water Act – another federal power grab

Author: Reed Hopper

Last week Representative James Oberstar (D) introduced "America's Commitment to Clean Water Act," (ACCWA) H.R. 5088.  The authors claim this bill clarifies and corrects misconceptions created by the "Clean Water Restoration Act," H.R. 2421, which had been previously proposed to "restore" federal authority to regulate "all" waters in the United States.  ACCWA was accompanied by a comparison of the old bill and new bill which can be found here.  But, that comparison is misleading.  Therefore, Pacific Legal Foundation has reproduced the comparison here, with our own comments added in the last column.  These comments demonstrate that the new bill, like the old bill, is a sheep in wolves' clothing and is designed to stretch federal authority beyond any historic limits.