Editorial: WOTUS rule change restores federalism

The usual suspects in the self-styled environmental groups predictably collapsed into palpitating conniptions this past week when the Trump administration announced its final rule rolling back the Obama-era rule that overreachingly defined the waters of the United States (WOTUS) covered by the Clean Water Act of 1972 as every stream, ditch, wetland or muddy hoof print that might ever eventually spill a few drops of water into any rivulet.

Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity, wailed, “This sickening gift to polluters will allow wetlands, streams and rivers across a vast stretch of America to be obliterated with pollution. People and wildlife need clean water to thrive. Destroying half of our nation’s streams and wetlands will be one of Trump’s ugliest legacies. We’ll absolutely be fighting it in court.”

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democratic candidate for president, fired off a Twitter rant, “Government works great for giant corporations that want to dump chemicals & toxic waste into streams & wetlands. It’s just not working for families that want to be able to drink water without being poisoned. This is corruption, plain and simple.”

But Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler, while announcing the rule change at a conference of the National Association of Home Builders in Las Vegas, pointed out, “All states have their own protections for waters within their borders, and many regulate more broadly than the federal government. … Our new rule recognizes this relationship and strikes the proper balance between Washington, D.C., and the states. And it clearly details which waters are subject to federal control under the Clean Water Act and, importantly, which waters falls solely under the states’ jurisdiction.”

The new rule — prepared by the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers — is to take effect in 60 days, though litigation challenging it is a certainty.

The Obama administration’s 2015 definition of WOTUS covered about half of the nation’s wetlands and many streams that flowed only after heavy rainfall and required farmers and developers to seek expensive and time-consuming permits before turning so much as a shovel of dirt.

The Clean Water Act made it unlawful to discharge any pollutant that could eventually reach navigable waters unless a permit was first obtained. The 2015 WOTUS definition, for example, barred a Minnesota company from mining peat on a wetland 120 miles from the Red River.

Nevada and a dozen other states in 2015 obtained an injunction from a federal judge blocking enforcement of the sweeping WOTUS rule. Then-Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt said of the injunction, “This important order, at a minimum, delays implementation of an unwise, unjustifiable and burdensome rule, and protects Nevada’s landowners, farmers and developers from job losses and increased energy prices, until the final rule can be comprehensively fought in court.” The EPA decided the injunction applied only to those 13 states.

The rule change has been in the works since shortly after President Trump took office.

In a speech to the American Farm Bureau two weeks ago Trump talked about the rule change, saying, “And, today, I’m proud to announce that I am taking yet another step to protect the water rights of American farmers and ranchers. Under the previous administration, the Army Corps of Engineers proposed a new Water Supply rule that would give the federal government vast and unlimited power to restrict farmers’ access to water. That’s not a good thing. Is anybody happy with being restricted to water if you have a farm? Please stand up if you are happy about that. Because this authority rightfully belongs to the states, not the bureaucrats in Washington, D.C.”

The nation’s waters are not being turned over to corporations for dumping chemicals and toxins. The power to regulate and protect the water is simply being returned to the states, which under the principles of federalism, is where they rightfully belong.

In fact, Trump’s executive order of February 2017 that started the rule change process is titled: “Presidential Executive Order on Restoring the Rule of Law, Federalism, and Economic Growth by Reviewing the ‘Waters of the United States’ Rule.”

A version of this editorial appeared this week in some of the Battle Born Media newspapers — The Ely Times, the Mesquite Local News, the Mineral County Independent-News, the Eureka Sentinel,  Sparks Tribune and the Lincoln County Record.

Harry comes down squarely on both sides when it comes to protesting on federal land

The Army Corps of Engineers approved the Dakota Access pipeline and a federal judge ruled against the Standing Rock Sioux when they sought an injunction and another federal court denied their appeal.

After protesters set up camp on federal public land, burned equipment and clashed with police, the Department of the Interior and the Corps of Engineers announced a delay on a final permit until further consultation with the tribes.

Harry heartily approves of this protest. He did not approve of a protest closer to home and called them domestic tourists, er, terrorists.

 

 

Editorial: SCOTUS curbs WOTUS, but Congress must act

The U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) this past week acted to finally curb, but not eliminate, the unfettered power of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers to control every stream, ditch, wetland or muddy hoof print that might eventually spill a few drops of water into any rivulet that might occasionally be navigable with an inner tube.

Under the agencies’ vague definition of what exactly are waters of the United States (WOTUS) under the Clean Water Act of 1972, the existence of any water on one’s own property promulgates the necessity to obtain a permit before doing anything that might “pollute” that water with anything, including dirt.

In a unanimous decision in Army Corps of Engineers v. Hawkes Co., the court said property owns have a right to sue in court over permitting determinations. The federal agencies had circuitously contended that property owners could only go to court once decisions were final, but essentially argued that all permitting decisions are reviewable and potentially reversible and therefore never final.

In December 2010, the Hawkes Co., which mines peat for use on golf courses among other uses, applied for a permit to mine peat on a 530-acre tract of property it owns in Minnesota. The Corps of Engineers told the company they would have to do numerous tests that would cost more than $100,000.

In February 2012, the Corps determined the land contained “water of the United States” because its wetlands had a “significant nexus” to the Red River of the North, located some 120 miles away. The owners appealed and got the same result, essentially a denial of permission to mine their own property.

In the opinion of the court, Chief Justice John Roberts points out the definition of WOTUS used by the EPA and the Corps includes “land areas occasionally or regularly saturated with water — such as ‘mudflats, sandflats, wetlands, sloughs, prairie potholes, wet meadows, [and] playa lakes’ — the ‘use, degradation or destruction of which could affect interstate or foreign commerce.’ The Corps has applied that definition to assert jurisdiction over ‘270-to-300 million acres of swampy lands in the United States — including half of Alaska and an area the size of California in the lower 48 States.’”

Roberts also noted that a specialized individual permit, such as the one sought by Hawkes, on average costs $271,596 and 788 days to complete, not counting any mitigation costs that might be required. He said the permitting process can be “arduous, expensive, and long.” No kidding. He left out futile.

The Corps told Hawkes after its denial of a permit that it could appeal administratively, but not judicially, or simply do the work without a permit and risk a fine of $37,000 a day and criminal prosecution.

The court said Hawkes has a right to sue in court. So, it curtailed the process but did not put a stop to the draconian obstruction of the right of personal property and burdensome expenses.

In a concurring opinion, Justice Anthony Kennedy, joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, said that the EPA and Corps “ominous reach” on interpreting the Clean Water Act “continues to raise troubling questions regarding the Government’s power to cast doubt on the full use and enjoyment of private property throughout the Nation.”

Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt, who along with 22 other attorneys general filed an amicus brief in this case, applauded the judgment.

“This unanimous U.S. Supreme Court decision vindicates our position that the Obama administration has continually attempted to avoid the rule of law and judicial review of its unlawful actions,” said Laxalt. “The Obama administration seems determined to move as far and as fast as possible to unilaterally change our constitutional system and our congressional laws. … Fortunately in this case, our checks and balances have protected Nevadans from truly unprecedented federal overreach.”

Congressman Cresent Hardy also lauded the court ruling, saying, “The Court’s unanimous ruling in the Hawkes case reins in an unchecked executive branch.  Property owners should not have their lands locked up by a ‘final agency action’ and be forced to go through a prohibitively expensive permitting process without the ability to appeal the decision. Thankfully, the Supreme Court agrees.”

But the reality is that this decision, while welcome, merely puts a Band-Aid on a hemorrhage. Congress must rewrite the Clean Water Act and properly define WOTUS for the rapacious federal agencies lest they grind commerce in this country to a halt.

The House and Senate passed resolutions that would have blocked the EPA water rule, but in January the Senate failed to override Obama’s veto.

A version of this editorial appears this past week in some of the Battle Born Media newspapers — The Ely Times, the Mesquite Local News, the Mineral County Independent-News, the Eureka Sentinel,  Sparks Tribune and the Lincoln County Record.