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but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds."
--Samuel Adams - Leader in our Fight for Independence
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but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds." --Samuel Adams - Leader in our Fight for Independence Clean Water Action Plan |
VICTORY OVER KLINTON'S CLEAN WATER ACTION PLAN - CWAP"It is not about clean water; it is about control of all water.It is not about setting goals for states; it is about making decisions in Washington D.C., then applying them to the whole country regardless of the individual circumstances.It is not about Congress passing laws; it is about a bureaucracy that thinks it is above the law.It is about the Clean Water Action Plan."So says Karen Budd-Falen, whose lawfirm is suing the federal government over CWAP. CWAP contains 111 Key Actions that federal agencies will be required to take. Many of these actions will impact private property. Even more will affect public use public lands and public waters. To see the full text of her summary of this lawsuit go to http://www.paragonpowerhouse.org/it_is_not_about_clean_water.htm#top More info is available at http://www.cleanwater.gov/ufp/ "CWAP inflicts huge woe on private land users. Two million miles of river protection corridor will be taken almost entirely from private lands. 80 percent of private land that have riparian areas could have federally designated stream and river corridors by 2002. Emphasis is on "strong enforcement." Private land owners would face fines of up to $25,000 for each day that EPA concludes they are in violation of CWAP" The Water Rights Rebellion By J. Zane Walley The Paragon Foundation LEGAL VICTORY OVER CWAPMontanans For Multiple Use is a co-plaintiff in the legal action led by WACD. We have contributed funds and other support to this effort. This is a great victory and comes at a very crucial time for us - right at the beginning of a new round of legal battles that MFMU is heading up. This victory should strengthen and hearten us and encourage other groups to join us. WYOMING ASSOCIATION OF CONSERVATION DISTRICTSNEWS RELEASE Cheyenne - "After three years, closure has been reached on the lawsuit brought against the former Administration Clean Water Action Plan published in February 1998," said Bobbie Frank, Wyoming Association of Conservation Districts executive director. "We are quite pleased with our settlement agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency and believe the settlement accomplished what we claimed all along – that several of the actions identified in the Clean Water Action Plan were not law and could not be enforced," Frank added. Settlement negotiations were initiated after the Court denied the government’s motion to dismiss with respect to the plaintiffs’ claim that the Clean Water Action Plan should have been scrutinized under the National Environmental Policy Act. The settlement was reached on October 31. The settlement, based on correspondence issued by the EPA, states, "…the Clean Water Action Plan did not impose any legally enforceable obligations and was not itself a source of substantive authority for the listed agency actions; nor did it waive or supercede any substantive or procedural requirements." Marc Stimpert, Budd-Falen Law Offices indicated that the plaintiffs in the case can consider the settlement to be a major victory. "Without this lawsuit, the EPA most certainly would not have issued this statement," said Stimpert. The Wyoming Association of Conservation Districts brought the lawsuit in June 1998. The WACD, joined by 67 other plaintiffs from 17 different states including several fellow state associations, filed the suit due to several deficiencies on how the plan was developed, including the previous Administration’s complete failure to seek public input and comment on the more than 100 actions included in the plan. WACD strongly believed that if the plan were implemented it would have had serious repercussions to water quality efforts, infringe on property rights including water rights, and result in top down regulations that had little to no input from local people
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