Lummis To Washington: Hands Off Wyoming's Water

Press Release

In a letter sent to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., U.S. Representative Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., joined fellow Members of the Congressional Western Caucus to highlight the impacts the Clean Water Restoration Act (CWRA) will have on jobs and local economies throughout Wyoming and the entire West.

"Water is extremely precious to our way of life in Wyoming due to our arid climate," Lummis said. "Wyoming's state government has done a terrific job managing our limited water resources. Yet somehow, Washington thinks they can do a better job than local water managers. This bill simply represents another massive power grab in the West by a Congress that wouldn't know a puddle from a spring. I will continue to work with my western colleagues to stop this legislation dead in its tracks."

The bill, S. 787, seeks to expand the jurisdictional sweep of the Clean Water Act, introduced in 1972, by granting the federal government authority over all U.S. waterways. It removes the requirement that regulated waterways be "navigable," as stated in the Clean Water Act. The deletion of the word "navigable" will allow all inland waters to be subject to federal regulation. The proposed legislation would make it more costly to grow crops, provide water to cities, operate and maintain water storage and delivery facilities, and carry out other activities on both public and private lands.

Specifically, the CWRA will replace "navigable waters" with the term "waters of the United States," defined to mean: all waters subject to the ebb and flow of the tide, the territorial seas, and all interstate and intrastate waters and their tributaries.

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