Shortly after passage of amendments to The Clean Water Act in 1972, the Army Corps of Engineers held a public meeting in Grand Junction to explain the ramifications of these amendments.
Up to then the Corps only had jurisdiction over “navigable” waters of the United States. The only “navigable” water in Colorado was the lower Colorado River, perhaps as far up as Fruita. The Corps stated that the original version of the bill was written that way, but prior to signing someone removed the word “navigable” from the language without the knowledge of many of the congressmen who voted in favor of passage. Even the Corps was unaware of the change until a lawsuit was threatened by environmental organizations.

As a result of this one word, a huge bureaucracy grew within the Corps, and concomitant red tape has delayed projects and added billions of dollars in cost with minimal benefits. Property rights have been taken without due compensation, as evidenced by a Montrose rancher a few years ago.

Now environmentalists are pushing to pass even more strangling restrictions, even though all federal agencies have the subject well covered in their own regulations. This is sneaky socialism at its worst.

DICK PROSENCE
Meeker

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