The Environmental Protection Agency, in cahoots with the Army Corps of Engineers, wants to control every drop of water in the US. There are several reasons for this. One is that it is the nature of a regulatory agency to want to control everything that might possibly fall under its purview. The old, "if you have a hammer, then the whole world is a nail" attitude. Another reason is that there are a lot of wild-eyed, radical environmentalists who are actually part of the agency, or who have the ear of the agency, who would like for EPA to use the rule to further a radical environmental agenda.
Clearly, the perpetuation of the bureaucracy is probably the highest goal. Keeping one's job is always a concern if one is a bureaucrat. Clean water is very low on the priority list, if it is there at all. The authority for keeping water clean is already vested in the EPA. As a matter of fact, water is now cleaner than it has been in 75 years. There is no apparent need for any expanded jurisdiction.
The proposed new regulations have the potential for giving EPA the power to require farmers and ranchers to acquire a permit for most any normal activity, such as building a fence, or planting a crop, over a greatly expanded number of acres than is presently the case. Under the proposed regulation, a field, for instance, that has water flowing through it one day per year would be subject to EPA scrutiny. Think how many fields in Taylor county would be affected, especially after the two wet years we have had. EPA bureaucrats, of course, deny this. The figure they give nationwide for the expanded jurisdiction is a laughable 1300 acres. Yeah, sure. "We're from the government and we're here to help."
Finally, this is about ever expanding government control of another facet of American life and culture. It seems like the Obama administration delights in doing everything it can to stifle the very entities that have made America great, namely business, industry, agriculture, and the military.
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