Obama grabs power over U.S. waterways

The EPA issued new water rules.

The Obama administration is barging ahead with a new rule that gives the feds more power to oversee America’s waterways, announcing Wednesday the Environmental Protection Agency does not need to wait on congressional authority to issue the regulations.

“We’re finalizing a clean water rule to protect the streams and the wetlands that one in three Americans rely on for drinking water,” EPA head Gina McCarthy said to reporters. “And we’re doing that without creating any new permitting requirements and maintaining all previous exemptions and exclusions.”

Critics maintain the rule will put the federal government as overseer of ditches, puddles and other similarly small areas of wet ground, as WND previously reported.

Read about Washington’s operating standard these days, in “Gangster Government: Barack Obama and the New Washington Thugocracy,” by David Freddoso.

But McCarthy and White House officials say the rule will only clarify environmental protections that are already in place under the Clean Water Act.

“This rule is about clarification and in fact, we’re adding exclusions for features like artificial lakes and ponds, water-filled depressions from constructions and grass swales,” McCarthy said, the Hill reported. “This rule is based on science.”

Obama’s action comes in the face of repeated resistance from congressional Republicans who say the clamp-down is too restrictive and will prove too costly.

He said in a statement: “Too many of our waters have been left vulnerable to pollution. [Federal agencies will] restore protection for the streams and wetlands that form the foundation of our nation’s water resources, without getting in the way of farming, ranching or forestry.”

 

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