EPA power grab to regulate ditches, gullies on private property

[Ought Six]

http://www.humanevents.com/2012/06/1...vate-property/

[Alpheus]

Navigable waterways!?!? Are they ****ing high?

Legislation by bureaucracy.

[Roebuck]

It's like communist cuba.

[T3ngu]

Here runoff into farm dams can be controlled by the state as resource IIRC.

For example, in NSW

Harvestable rights allow landholders to collect up to 10% of the average regional rainwater runoff on their property and use this water in a farm dam, or dams, provided the dam is built on a hillside or minor stream. If the amount of water landholders harvest under this right was not limited, flows in rivers would be greatly reduced, threatening aquatic ecosystems and water supplies to downstream users.

http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rc...T71hBw&cad=rja

[TheKiwi]

From recollection it was Utah where all rainfall was claimed as state property...

[Mr Gently Benevolent]

Hardly a power grab more a reinforcement of existing controls, the EPA has in the past sought powers beyond its mandate but I don't think this is one of those moments.

[Mr Gently Benevolent]

It's like communist cuba.

Not really as corporate interests in the US incite many Govt agency policies so that so so far uncontrolled or lightly regulated resources can at some point be monetized effectively. You need to examine Communism in Cuba as they have a mixed private/state water resources model and they have a significant free to use fair use model for agriculture.