29 Apr 2008 NCPPR Senior Fellow Helps Clear the Air on Clean Water

On the heels of congressional hearings in both the House and Senate, the Washington Examiner published a scathing editorial against the proposed Clean Water Restoration Act (CWRA). The editorial came after National Center Senior Fellow R.J. Smith had a long conversation with Examiner editorial page editor Quin Hillyer about the April 16 House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing on the CWRA.

The Examiner editorial read, in part:

With the real estate market already reeling, Congress would be foolish to do anything that would further drive down property values. It would be even worse to do so while also mounting a wholesale assault on private property rights. But that’s what would be done by the misnamed Clean Water Restoration Act sponsored by Rep. James Oberstar, D-MN. Oberstar’s proposal is so bad it ought to be permanently buried six feet under dry land…

Now comes Oberstar, who is chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. He held an April 16 committee hearing on his misnamed bill, which would vastly expand the definition of “waters” covered by stringent regulation to include almost any area, “interstate and intrastate,” that ever gets wet. Oberstar set a May 1 deadline for interested parties to respond to hearing testimony.

The National Center for Public Policy Research recently spearheaded a coalition letter of over 50 organizations concerned about the CWRA’s threat on private property rights and published a National Policy Analysis paper on the threat the bill poses to hunting and sporting activity.

The full Washington Examiner editorial against the CWRA can be read by clicking here.