06/06/07 Water legislation may threaten property rights

Farm and Ranch June 6, 2007 Proposed legislation in Congress would delete the term "navigable" from the Clean Water Act. Why is that a big deal to farmers and ranchers and other landowners? Parrish: "The kinds of things they do every day, from plowing fields to applying fertilizers to spraying pesticides, all of that could require federal permits and if it does the bureaucracy and the hold up and the red tape that a farmer is going to have to deal with will be tremendous." That's American Farm Bureau Federation water regulation specialist Don Parrish who says that just deleting the word navigable could mean that the government could regulate all water in the nation not just navigable waterways. Parrish: "What that does it federalizes all waters, including things like agricultural lands, grass waterways and agricultural ditches. It is probably the largest expansion of the Clean Water Act since it was first enacted in 1972." And Parrish says the change would steer the Clean Water Act away from its original purpose. Parrish: "What this legislation does is shift away from what is important to protect the quality of the nation's waters into regulation land use activities and the activities that farmers and ranchers need to conduct every day to grow food and fiber." Parrish says that will decrease U.S. productivity and reduce our competitiveness in world markets. The legislation called the Clean Water Restoration Act was introduced in the House of Representatives. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.