Small Stream Advisory

In 1972 Congress adopted and President Nixon signed the Clean Water Act to protect, in the words of the Act, “all the waters of the United States.”  Any commercial developer who wished to dredge a body of water or dam up a stream or fill in a wetland had to obtain a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers.

Under the George W. Bush Administration the protections were limited to navigable waters.  Although I have canoed the Aquashicola and Mahoning Creeks, they would not be considered navigable under the Bush guidelines. 

Earlier this year the Obama administration proposed new guidelines that protected American streams and wetlands--the same standards that had been applied for decades after the Clean Water Act was passed.  This irritated developers, and in response, the House passed legislation denying the EPA and the Army Corps from carrying out the guidelines.  Now Repuiblican Senators Barasso of Wyoming and Heller of Nevada have introduced legislation to do the same thing in the Senate.  Approximately two million miles of small streams are at risk.

I read in the New York Times a few days ago that college students aren’t as enthusiastic for President Obama as in 2008.  Given the Republican candidates and the Republican Congress and the Republican Supreme Court, I have actually become MORE enthusiastic.  This country and its environment cannot afford to have a Republican president.