-----Urgent Action Required -----Clean Water Restoration Act House Testimony Questionnaire -----Below we have created a brand NEW Testimony Questionnaire for you to fill out and send to your Congressman and both Senators. -----The Testimony Questionnaire is designed so you can simply save it into your word processing file, edit it with your comments, and then send it to your Congressman using your e-mail program. Be sure to edit out or cut off the parts that are not part of the testimony. We’ve marked them so read it carefully. -----We agree with all the statements on the Testimony Questionnaire, but you don’t have to. You can mark it Agree, Disagree or No Opinion or add your own comments. What is most important is that you fill out the blank space below the Statements with your own personal comments. You may get ideas and draw from the statements we have provided or preferably write your own. But don’t fail to fill out the blank space. If you leave it blank, Congress will dismiss your testimony. The Testimony Questionnaire is rated at a much higher value by your Congressman if you write your own personal thoughts in the space provided after the section with the statements with Agree, Disagree, or No Opinion. So please, take the time to either borrow from our statements at the upper part of the Questionnaire or write your own. But write something in that blank space above where we have made a place for you to write your name and address toward the bottom of the Testimony Questionnaire. Very Important : Clean Water Restoration Act Testimony Questionnaire below. No House bill number has been issued yet. -----Please save this document to your word processor. Delete the portions not intended for your Congressman. Edit the document in your word processor and e-mail it or print it out and fax it to your Congressman and the other Members of the Transportation Committee as well as the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. Your personal comments make this document more valuable. So be sure to fill in the blank space with your own personal comments or concerns below where the section is with the Agree-Disagree statements are listed. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Testimony Questionnaire below: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -----Fax, and E-mail regarding the Clean Water Restoration Act (CWRA) (S787) for the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee or the Senate Energy and Environment Committee. . -----Congressional Testimony Questionnaire----- Testimony For The Record Clean Water Restoration Act (S787)(also Clean Water Act). We call it the National Wetlands Corps of Engineers Land Grab Bill. Honorable __________________(Write in Rep. James Oberstar and the name of your Congressman You can mail it as well as send it by e-mail. You can write a letter borrowing from the Testimony Questionnaire. I believe the Congress through the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is moving to seize control of all U.S. waters. The Goal of the Clean Water Restoration Act (CWRA) Is Corps and EPA Control Of All Watersheds Which Means National Land Use Controls. It will give the Corps and EPA control over my property. -----The Clean Water Restoration Act (CWRA) is worse than a mere return to the jurisdiction the Corps of Engineers had before the U.S. Supreme Court limited their jurisdiction. It gives the jurisdiction to the federal government that the environmental bureaucrats only dreamed of before the Supreme Court's rulings. -----Congress is considering expanding the jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act of 1972 using the Clean Water Restoration Act (CWRA) to include all waters of the United States and not limit it to “navigable waters” as is currently the law under two Supreme Court Decisions, the Rapanos and SWANCC Supreme Court Decisions of 2006 and 2001. -----Congress is also considering expanding Clean Water Act jurisdiction using the Clean Water Restoration Act (CWRA) to include all “activities affecting these waters.” It expands the definition of waters and gives the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Corps of Engineers (Corps) and other Federal agencies control over activities that affect waters—any land use activities. -----An example is that the Federal bureaucracies gain control over all the watersheds in the United States. That includes dry land inside or adjacent to watersheds. That means everything. Because all land is in a watershed. Chairman Oberstar, Senator Feingold and some Members of Congress are trying to overturn the U.S. Supreme Court decisions using the Clean Water Restoration Act to define those decisions away. In fact it even goes far beyond that by adding the language, “the activities affecting these waters,” which is essentially a limitless national land use control provision. It became clear what Rep. Oberstar is really up to at the House Transportation Committee Hearing on Oberstar’s Clean Water Act Wetlands Land Grab Bill (Old House number from last year was HR 2421) in April of 2008. Transportation Committee Chairman Oberstar is planning to try to trick us into thinking the bill is OK. He is planning to leave the word “navigable” in the Clean Water Restoration Act but trick us with words that essentially gut its meaning. This called bait and switch. I know about the trick with the word “navigation” and am going to hold you accountable for it if Oberstar is successful and you vote for it. You must know that I understand this tactic. We are not going to be suckered by a bait and switch tactic. I will hold you responsible if Oberstar is successful in passing the Clean Water Restoration Act (CWRA), taking the heart out of the Rapanos and SWANCC Supreme Court Decisions of 2006 and 2001. We understand that Rep. Oberstar and Senator Feingold are trying to give some members of his Committee a place for a soft landing by leaving the word “Navigable” in the bill so people like us will think we are protected. They are going to gut the meaning of the word “Navigable.” They are doing this to make it possible for Democrats and others of their Committees to vote for the Clean Water Restoration Act without getting hammered by their constituents. Please understand that I am not falling for this trick. You can expect a huge reaction if you vote yes on the Clean Water Restoration Act or any similar bill. Committee Chairman James Oberstar (D-MN) made it clear at the 2008 hearing that he plans to overturn the Rapanos and SWANCC Supreme Court Decisions of 2006 and 2001. That would give the Corps of Engineers and EPA jurisdiction over nearly all-private and Federal land. The Supreme Court limited that jurisdiction in the two Supreme Court decisions. I want you to oppose the effort of Chairman Oberstar and Senator Feingold to overturn the Rapanos and SWANCC Supreme Court Decisions of 2006 and 2001. I do not want the Corps and EPA to get back the jurisdiction they had taken before the Supreme Court decisions. I don’t want the Corps of Engineers or the EPA in my backyard. I am urging you to vote no on the Clean Water Restoration Act. Below are additional concerns and testimony regarding the Clean Water Restoration Act. The Clean Water Restoration Act has little to do with clean water and is mostly about land use control. Please allow this Testimony to be submitted for the record for any hearings to be held on the Clean Water Restoration Act, or the Clean Water Act. Please consider a photocopy of this document as valid as the original and include my testimony for the official record. Signature ________________________________ Print Your Name ______________________________ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Dear Private Property and Multiple-Use Advocate: (Delete this part of the message before sending to your Congressman and both Senators. You must send your testimony in immediately. The Clean Water Restoration Act may come up for a vote in the House and Senate Committees this Spring. The Committee Chairman Oberstar tried to rush a vote the last two years. He is trying to get Speaker Nancy Pelosi to allow a vote without the bill actually going through his Committee. It is imperative that you act now. The Clean Water Restoration Act may be the biggest threat to property rights and local control yet. Rep. Oberstar changed the rules so that if you have sent in testimony before, you need to send it again with Chairman James Oberstar’s name also on the Testimony as well as the name of your own Congressman. You must specifically ask that it be put in the official record of any hearing on the Clean Water Restoration Act. You must send copies to each Member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee listed at www.landrights.org. The bill would overturn two U.S. Supreme Court decisions that favored landowners and local government. The Rapanos and SWANCC Supreme Court Decisions of 2006 and 2001. The CWRA would give federal agencies, the Corps of Engineers and EPA in particular, almost unlimited control over your land, your water and that of all your neighbors. Reed Hopper, lead attorney in the latest Supreme Court victory for landowners said “…..this bill pushes the limit of federal power to an extreme not matched by any other law, probably in the history of this country. Jim Burling, senior attorney for the Pacific Legal Foundation, said “If our constitutional system of limited federal powers means anything, we have to win on this issue.” It is important that you fill out the following testimony questionnaire and send it to your Congressman and all those Congressmen on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee listed below. Please submit it as soon as possible. Ask your Congressman and both Senators to make sure it is put in the record of any upcoming hearing on the Clean Water Restoration Act or the Clean Water Act. Please act on this as soon as you get this e-mail message. Supporters of this bill are trying to ram the Clean Water Restoration Act (CWRA) through before people like you realize how dangerous it is. Below is a New Testimony Questionnaire for you to fill out and e-mail or fax back to your Congressman and the Members of the Transportation Committee in the US House of Representatives. Be sure to check to see if your Congressman is on the Transportation Committee or your Senator is on the Energy and Environment Committee. This makes your Testimony even more valuable. Go to www.landrights.org to see the Committee list. -----Alert -- Be aware of the legal concept called “laches” or “sleeping on your rights.” You may lose future legal rights later if you fail to comment or testify on the Clean Water Restoration Act. So at least send this Testimony Questionnaire and possibly a letter opposing the Clean Water Restoration Act. It can be as short as one page or longer. -----In the next section you will see a series of statements about the Clean Water Restoration Act (CWRA)that American Land Rights agrees with but you don’t have to. This Testimony Questionnaire is about helping you get your testimony to Congress. Your Congressman and both Senators and the Members of the two Committees want to know what you think. It is critical that you write your responses to the statements with your opinion and not what you think we would want you to write. You are free to disagree with us. You can add comments to each statement or change the statements to fit your preference. You have a chance to change the course of history on the whole “wetlands”, Clean Water Act, or Corps of Engineers and EPA regulation issue by filling out this Testimony Questionnaire, writing your Congressman’s name as well as that of Chairman James Oberstar in the appropriate place, and e-mailing it to all the Members of Congress on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Certainly all the Congressmen in your state. Send it to your neighbors and friends also. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --1. The jurisdiction of federal agencies under the Clean Water Act of 1972 should remain limited to navigable waters and not expanded to include all waters of the U.S., such as wetlands, sloughs, meadows, intermittent streams, prairie potholes, ponds, playa lakes, mudflats and sandflats. Agree…..Disagree…..No Opinion --2. Jurisdiction of the Corps and EPA under the Clean Water Act should remain the same as it is now after the two Supreme Court decisions. Agree…..Disagree…..No Opinion --3. Congress should not gut the word “navigable.” It should stay meaning what the Supreme Court said it meant. Agree ….. Disagree ….. No Opinion --4. The definition of wetlands under federal jurisdiction should be limited to those areas that are permanently wet or free flowing. Agree…..Disagree…..No Opinion --5. The CWRA is called the “Clean Water Restoration Act", because Committee Chairman James Oberstar is claiming the Supreme Court has misinterpreted the "original intent" of Congress to regulate all waters in the United States. You must debunk this myth. Agree ….. Disagree ….. No Opinion --6. By recognizing in the Clean Water Act (1972) that the States have "the primary responsibilities and rights" to eliminate pollution and determine the "development and use ... of (local) land and water resources," Congress expressed its intent to limit federal authority. Agree ….. Disagree ….. No Opinion --7. Congress never intended to regulate ALL waters in the US when it prohibited discharging pollutants into "navigable waters." ___ Agree ___ Disagree --8. The Clean Water Restoration Act (CRWA) is being used to try to take control over all watersheds in the United States -- that in effect is national land use controls. The Clean Water Act 1972 and the CWRA should not be used as tools for national land use controls. Agree…..Disagree…..No Opinion --9. The Clean Water Act of 1972 should not be expanded to include “activities affecting waters.” Agree…..Disagree…..No Opinion --10. The U. S. Supreme Court decisions (Rapanos and SWANCC) of 2006 and 2001 that ruled in favor of local government and landowners should not be overturned by the proposed Clean Water Restoration Act (CWRA). Agree…..Disagree…..No Opinion --11. The attempt by some Members of Congress to return the Jurisdiction of the Corps of Engineers to what it was before the Rapanos and SWANCC Supreme Court Decisions of 2006 and 2001 should not go forward. The CWRA must be defeated. Agree…..Disagree…..No Opinion --12. The U.S. Supreme Court greatly clarified the Wetlands issues in the Rapanos and SWANCC Supreme Court Decisions of 2006 and 2001. The Supreme Court established clear limits to the jurisdiction under the 1972 Clean Water Act. The Corps and EPA are trying to ignore the two Supreme Court Decisions. Now some Members of Congress want to use the CWRA to overturn those cases and return to the chaos and intimidation by the Corps of Engineers that was occurring before the Supreme Court stepped in. The CWRA must not overturn the Rapanos and SWANCC Supreme Court Decisions of 2006 and 2001. Agree…..Disagree…..No Opinion --13. Mostly dry land and isolated wetlands should be excluded from federal jurisdiction as intended by the Clean Water Act of 1972. Agree…..Disagree…..No Opinion --14. The definition of pollutants under the Clean Water Act of 1972 should not include clean fill or natural material of any kind. Agree…..Disagree…..No Opinion --15. The term ‘discharge’ should not apply to the disturbance of soils or natural materials. Agree…..Disagree…..No Opinion --16. Citizens cited for violation of regulations under the Clean Water Act of 1972 should not face criminal penalties. Agree…..Disagree…..No Opinion --17. National Water Quality goals should be achieved without violating constitutionally protected property rights. Agree…..Disagree…..No Opinion --18. National Water Quality goals are best achieved by local and state governments, rather than by federal agencies. Agree…..Disagree…..No Opinion --19. Nat. Water Quality goals should consider priorities and costs. Agree…..Disagree…..No Opinion --20. National Water Quality goals should consider regional differences in landscapes and other ecological characteristics. Agree…..Disagree…..No Opinion --21. ‘Regulatory Takings’ that devalue private property should be compensated under provisions of the 5th Amendment. Agree…..Disagree…..No Opinion --22. Access to and use and enjoyment of public lands and waters should be guaranteed under provisions of the Clean Water Act. Agree…..Disagree…..No Opinion --23. The Clean Water Restoration Act and other environmental legislation is often not about environmental protection, but about control over land, water, and people. Agree…..Disagree…..No Opinion --24. Please do not give the Corps of Engineers or EPA increased power to regulate more private land or allow them in my backyard. Agree…..Disagree…..No Opinion - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (Your written comments here are essential if you want Members of Congress to really pay attention to this document. You are free to use as much space as you need. But please write some comments below before sending this important document to Congress.) Open space for your personal comments. These are very important. (If needed, use additional sheets or attach a personal letter) To validate your comments please fill in completely (PRINT or TYPE) and be sure to sign. Signature_________________________________ Name____________________________________________ E-Mail___________________________________ Fax ___________________ Phone ____________________ Address_______________________________ Town______________________ State_____ Zip____________ Please do not fail to send this testimony questionnaire even if you receive it late. Please send your Testimony Questionnaire as quickly as possible. You should e-mail or fax it early. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Please edit out or cut below this line before sending to your Congressmen and others on the Transportation Committee. Check above to make sure you have edited out our instructions before you e-mail to the Committee and its staff. The House Committee fax number is (202) 226-1270. E-mail: The committee e-mail was not working. Here is a staff person to send your testimony to. jon.pawlow@mail.house.gov; You must take urgent action to help stop the CWRA (Clean Water Restoration Act). This bill will have a huge impact on business, agriculture, small communities, rural America, farming, ranching and all private lands. It will overturn the Rapanos and SWANCC Supreme Court Decisions of 2006 and 2001. No one who owns private land is safe. Your help is greatly appreciated. Chuck Cushman Executive Director American Land Rights Association (360) 687-3087 ccushman@pacifier.com You can support American Land Rights by joining for $35 per year or making a contribution. Both can be done at www.landrights.org. Or simply send a check for $35 to American Land Rights, PO Box 400, Battle Ground, WA 98604. Be sure to write Wetlands or CWRA on your check. If you wish to unsubscribe, reply to this e-mail with “unsubscribe” in the subject line. If you know of others who would like to receive these alerts, reply with their e-mail addresses. Please forward this message as widely as possible. This is a historic issue. It is incredibly important for you to forward this message. By forwarding the message, you can help get millions of copies of this critically important e-mail distributed. Thank you in advance for your help.