Issues
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Water Quality The Water Resources Development Act (H.R. 1495) is legislation intended to provide federal investment in the conservation and development of water resources. In addition, the bill authorizes Army Corps of Engineers involvement in numerous rivers and harbors of the United States. The bill is slated to be reauthorized every two years, but the measure has not been implemented since 2000. Last year, the House and Senate agreed upon legislation to reauthorize the bill that was sent to the White House. President Bush vetoed H.R. 1495 because he felt the beach restoration projects, navigation improvements, and dam and levee projects included in the bill were excessive and the overall cost was too large. While I respected the President’s fiscal concerns, I felt that the merit of the bill, coupled with the fact it represented the pent-up demand of three previous versions, warranted my support of an override of his veto. The bill became law (P.L. 110-114) on November 9, 2007. Aditionally, legislation (H.R. 2421) has been introduced that would amend the Clean Water Act to replace the term “navigable water” with the term “waters of the United States.” As such, if enacted the bill would apply the Clean Water Act to all waters of the United States, regardless of size. The bill is intended to overturn a number of court decisions which sought to limit the scope of the Clean Water Act. The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure held a series of hearings on the legislation in July, though the bill has not been marked up by either the subcommittee or full committee. The committee has heard from environmental groups that support the measure, but also from agriculture and industry-related stakeholders who have grave concerns about the ramifications of such a change. |