Washington,
D.C. (August 1, 2006) - The government should not be regulating wetlands or
ditches on farmers' and ranchers' private property under the Clean Water
Act, according to Keith Kisling, a cattle rancher and wheat farmer from
Burlington, Oklahoma. Kisling
says recent decisions issued by the U.S. Supreme Court limit the waters
subject to regulation under the Act, and the government needs to act
accordingly.
The
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee's Subcommittee on Fisheries,
Wildlife, and Water called the hearing to discuss the impact of the Supreme
Court's decisions in the joint cases of Rapanos v.
United
States
and
Carabell v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on "The Waters of the
United
States
."
Kisling testified today on behalf of the National Cattlemen's Beef
Association (NCBA) and National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG).
"The
challenge for society in using private lands is to strike a sensible balance
between the demands of food production and conservation of natural
resources," said Kisling. "Regulation
has been allowed to proceed unlawfully and directly at odds with teachings
from the leading Supreme Court cases."
Cattlemen
cite examples of government officials trying to use the Clean Water Act to
regulate prairie potholes, ponds, irrigation ditches, and intermittent
streams on private lands. "Not
only does this create an unstable working environment for farmers and
ranchers, but it's legally unfounded," says Jeff Eisenberg, NCBA's
director of federal lands.
"Both
the overzealous government regulation and failure to provide adequate notice
about the extent of authority to regulate result in serious infringement of
the rights of producers to use their own property," said Kisling.
"The
government has clearly been regulating the use of private property beyond
the authority conferred by the Clean Water Act," says Eisenberg.
"In its decisions in SWANCC (Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook
County) v. Army Corps of Engineers and Rapanos, the Supreme Court has worked
to check this usurping of congressional authority by the executive branch of
government."
"Agricultural
producers need assured access to their own lands to run their businesses and
produce the food
America
eats," said Kisling. "The
regulation of isolated waters on farms and ranches goes against the Supreme
Court rulings and seriously inhibits our ability to do our jobs."
