Nebraska joins 12 other states in suing over new U.S. federal water rules

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Omaha World Herald

By Martha Stoddard

LINCOLN — Nebraska joined 12 other states Monday in filing a legal challenge to sweeping new federal water regulations.

The regulations, which became final at the end of May, define which bodies of water fall under the 1972 Clean Water Act.

Attorney General Doug Peterson said the regulations unconstitutionally extend federal authority over private land. “The new regulations are not based on true environmental concerns, but merely try to expand federal authority on private land owners,” Peterson said.

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota. Other states participating in the suit are: Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming.

FULL story at link.

Read more: http://www.omaha.com/news/crime/nebraska-joins-other-states-in-suing-over-new-u-s/article_bff109ec-1e99-11e5-9fa3-1bede2e2a398.html

[randys1]

1. So these 12 states want the right to destroy our environment, I assume

[raven mad]

3. Oh, bull - we just want the right to catch a fish without catch & release.

There are many months it's hard to buy food here - and the feds want it ALL.

[Warren Stupidity]

5. um which part of the clean water act regulates fishing?

[raven mad]

6. It doesn't. It just restricts a lot of stuff up here that it doesn't in other states.

It's ridiculous. It takes no account of the fact that there are less than a million of us in 586,748 square miles.

The feds have NO clue.

[Warren Stupidity]

7. Ok you made a specific claim re fishing

now you've agreed that was bullshit. Excuse me if I'm now skeptical of anything else you have to say on the subject.

[raven mad]

8. Warren, the federal laws up here are so confusing it takes a genius to figure them.

I'm no genius. I do know that there is not a river, creek or tributary nearby where I can fish and keep the fish. But the water is clean enough to drink without boiling in all but in-town rivers.

I'm sorry if I offended you. It was not my intention.

[Warren Stupidity]

10. The federal law you are so concerned about will

increase the fish stock and make them healthier to eat.

[raven mad]

13. If we are actually allowed to catch and keep them.

I'm not greedy, I'd settle for 2 or 3 kings a year. But I don't qualify for subsistence, and the commercial and sport fishers take most of the allocation that's left over. So we go to the supermarket and pay $14.99 a pound for fresh Alaska salmon caught in my back yard.

[Warren Stupidity]

14. you are now just going around in circles.

The clean water act has nothing at all to do with fishing regulations. It will improve the health of the fish stock by reducing water pollution levels. It has been proven repeatedly to be modestly effective at doing just that. You announced that the clean water act was going to prevent you from catching fish. When asked how you admitted that it did nothing at all to prevent you from catching fish. Now you are back, it seems, to opposing the CWA because of fishing regulations.

Salmon are in fact endangered due to over fishing and the salmon stock was at least partially rescued BY THE STATE OF ALASKA by implementing strict regulation of salmon fishing. People, left to their own, will hunt to extermination. As you are clearly a libertarian of sorts, you should understand the concept of "the tragedy of the commons". Alaska's STATE GOVERNMENT intervened to manage salmon fishing and it actually has been a very successful intervention. Yes, that means that people like you get left out, but on the other hand the Salmon stock is healthy and sustainable fishing continues. So I guess you have a choice, live free with no salmon for anyone, or accept regulation and limited salmon fishing.

None of which has anything at all to do with the clean water act.

[ananda]

2. Well, they must feel empowered since SCOTUS ..

.. nearly always rules on the side of industry and pollution.

[Wellstone ruled]

4. At one time the Wing Nutty folks were floating a story

about the Federal Government digging canals to take certain water in order to supply California. Is this what the Dingaling's are up to again? Appears we are seeing another so called States Rights fake issue here. Follow the money.

[AwareOne]

9. Good, all states should join to stop this ridiculous rule

The language of this rule expands the definition of "waters of the United States" to include every single body of water in the country and requires the owner or those responsible for the water to file for a permit and approval from the government before any type of water treatment can be done. The people who wrote this are so out of touch with reality that they were unaware that there are millions of treatments that are done routinely to bodies of water every year. Anyone from a municipality to a golf course to a private home owner or farmer with a pond or a lake would have to get federal approval before they could treat for Mosquitoes or for exotic invasive weeds or an Algae bloom or silt in a lake or any other reason. I consider myself an environmentalist, I have a degree in Water Quality and worked in the field for over 20 years so I studied this rule closely and I can tell you it is insane.

[astral]

11. .

Complete control over the water is part of the U.N. thing. It has been a long time coming, and i do not believe states will be allowed to stop it.

[Sunlei]

12. good-the 1972 federal clean water regs are very weaksauce. Private industry needs minimum regs.

holding ponds of contaminates, chemical runoff from industries, feed lot liquid manure pits full of antibiotics and growth medications and private lakes stocked with exotic or domestic species make it to the public waterways more often then not.

We don't need more of this contaminated 'private' water making it to groundwater, evaporating to come down as rain or running off every time it rains. Of just left to dry and blow away as dust.

Federal 1972 clean water regs are to weak anyway, but it is the only protection 'the people' have in the USA.