Today United States Senator Vitter (R-La), Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, featured PLF’s case on behalf of John Duarte and Duarte Nursery against the Corps of Engineers on one of the Committee’s blogs. Senator Vitter notes that this
recent case in California paints a picture of what more Americans would face under the Administration’s prevailing regulatory proposals.
Senator Vitter refers to the recent joint announcement by the EPA and Corps of Engineers that they intend to apply all of the restrictions of federal wetlands laws against almost all wetlands and small streams, no matter how small and ephemeral they are, or how remote is their connection to navigable waters. And the senator makes a valid point: the treatment the Duartes have received at the hands of the Corps of Engineers is a taste of what everyday homeowners will face when the federal government redefines drainage swales in their backyards as federally protected “waters of the United States.”