Everyone is in favor of clean water. In an honest and truthful world, only a fool would oppose efforts to promote clean water. We, however, are living in a sinister and deceptive world where truth is sacrificed for wealth and power. In a land ruled by Progressives, Marxists and fellow travelers, a legislative commitment to clean water tragically means a sinister plan for rulers to abolish ownership of private property by using well-organized and financed environmentalists motivated by greed.
In a column titled “Dems’ Plan to Control Your Land,” Jane Chastain, writing for World Net Daily states without apologies: “It’s not enough that Barack Obama and the Democrats want complete control of health care, the financial system and the air above—now they are advancing a bill that will control the land under your feet. You can forget the property provision of the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution, and tear up any deeds you may now possess. If this bill passes, that property you own won’t be worth more than the paper those deeds are written on unless you have the blessing of Big Brother’s bureaucrats.”
Jane Chastain is discussing the “Clean Water Restoration Act,” recently renamed by Nancy Pelosi’s House leadership. The new name is even more appealing to the uninformed and misinformed. It is renamed the “American Commitment to Clean Water Act,” H. R. 5088.
The intent of the Clean Water Act passed in 1972 was to clean up and protect from pollution “navigable” waterways that ships and boats navigate. Control of streams, creeks, ponds and mud holes was left to the individual states.
The word “navigable” has been removed from the wording of the renamed bill and its provisions have been extended to include what is defined as “Waters of the United States.” This definition includes “all waters that are currently used, were used in the past, or may be susceptible to use in interstate or foreign commerce, including all waters that are subject to the ebb and flow of the tide; all interstate and international waters, including interstate and international wetlands; All other waters, including intrastate lakes, rivers, streams, (including intermittent streams, mudflats, sandflats, wetlands, playa lakes, or natural ponds.”
Waters of the United States includes all water or places where water has been or may be at some future time, except for that in the sewer, with specific exceptions.
The Greenville County Tree Ordinance already regulates the use of property within 35 feet of each side of a stream to include “Blue line” streams that have no water except during heavy rains. The current Greenville County Land Use Plan, if fully implemented, would have some of the same controls that H. R. 5088 would mandate for the Federal Government.
Under the provisions of “America’s Commitment to Clean Water Act,” a property owner is not compensated for his property as in “Eminent Domain,” property seizures. The property owner continues to hold title to the land and pay the taxes, but the property owner may not use the land for what is intended and in some cases, cannot use the land at all.
The Dems will attempt to ram this bill through and get it signed by Obama before they risk losing their majority in the November General Election. If we allow it to become law, property rights will be a thing of the past and we will become nothing more than another communist country run by dictators kept in power by storm troopers and secret police. Wake up folks. We are in great danger of losing everything that our ancestors fought and sacrificed to protect and defend.