SB632/HB1615 is an attempt to narrow the types of waterbodies protected under our laws.  Since the changes are based upon removing the use classification of a stream, EPA approval is always required. SB633/HB1617 creates a new definition of “limited resource waters” in another attempt to restrict the types of waterbodies protected under our laws.  These bills would especially lift protection from our smaller streams during times of drought, when we need water protection the most.  Both bills also take these re-defined waters out of our public trust, therefore opening them up for pollution.

 The US EPA reviewed these bills and said “Should this legislation pass, it may result in federal action related to TDEC’s federally delegated water programs.”  Passing this legislation could result in direct federal oversight of our state programs, or worse the removal of our delegated authority to protect our waters.  The US EPA also notes these bills result in definitions which would not be consistent with the Clean Water Act. 

On top of all of this, the state could lose up to $2 million in federal funding as a result of this legislation while costing us an additional $1 million in our own expenditures. 

These bills are not only destructive to our water resources, but clearly violate federal standards to protect our waters!

We are fighting one of our biggest legislative battles ever in an effort to protect Tennessee’s waters, and we need your help!  Two bills are up for discussion and a potential vote in the Senate Environmental Committe on Tuesday and the sponsor needs to hear from you about why these bills are so bad. 

SB632 and SB633 in short will lift protection from thousands of miles of smaller streams throughout the state.  These bills are an attempt to weaken our state’s water protection laws and are a huge threat to our water quality and quantity. 

Please call Senator Southerland and other members of the Senate Environmental Committee to oppose these dangerous bills.  Go to http://www.capitol.tn.gov/senate/committees/env-tourism.html for each member’s contact information and let them know you oppose SB632 and SB633 because they strip protection away from our waters – could destroy approximately 30,000 miles of streams in Tennessee - and are a critical threat to our neighborhood streams and smaller waterbodies. 

Call these members no later than Monday, and let’s defeat these bills!

Go to http://www.tcwn.org/news/2009bills.php to learn more about this legislation.

Did you know that you can watch the state legislature and all committee meetings live online?  Check out this link: http://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/livevideo/ for the live feed.  You can also visit the House or Senate Committee pages for archived videos and agendas for upcoming sessions.

Here are links to the House and Senate Environment Committees:

House Conservation and Environment Committee: http://www.capitol.tn.gov/house/committees/conserv-env.html

Senate Environment, Conservation and Tourism Committee: http://www.capitol.tn.gov/senate/committees/env-tourism.html

We will be watching these committees live and posting comments on our Twitter site.

Your elected officials, to be more precise.  TCWN has kicked off a massive campaign to encourage folks to call their State Senators and Representatives and demand they protect our state’s waters.

Right now, there are 14 destructive water bills in the Senate and House.  Any one of these bills could have a devastating impact on our water quality and quantity.  All of them combined- well, it’s just bad, bad, bad.

We have added a page to our website that summarizes each bill and provides talking points.  Feel free to use those points to write a letter or make a phone call to your Senator and Representative, especially if your representative belongs on one of these committees:

Senate Environment, Conservation and Tourism Committee

Steve Southerland, Chair
Ken Yager, Vice-Chair
Eric Stewart, Secretary
Tim Barnes
Charlotte Burks
Mike Faulk
Doug Jackson
Jack Johnson
Jamie Woodson

House Conservation and Environment Committee

This article just came over my email.  I think it is worth a mention that not all people working in government are too happy at recent Supreme Court decisions and the current fallout from EPA.  Many rivers in the United States are being reclassified as non-navigable, when indeed, they are navigable-in-fact.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-wylie30-2008oct30,0,712832.story

There is a fix for this.  It’s call the Clean Water Restoration Act. It simply removes the word “navigable” from the Clean Water Act, thus solidifying the CWA’s original intent to protect ALL waters of the nation.  I think the word appears something like twice in the act.

Now here’s what the detractors say.

“This act will increase enforcement activities by the Feds.”  No so. This does not touch the enforcement sections of the CWA.

“People will be regulating bird baths and puddles.”  I hear this one a lot.  I cannot believe someone would actually utter it.  It is by far the most stupid argument against this legislation I have heard yet.  Give me an argument with umph. PLEASE!!! As if the Feds have time to do something like this.  Ridiculous.

“Farmers will have to comply with the CWA.” Again, not so.  Agriculture is exempt from the CWA except when they have heavy equipment in a stream.

Unfortunately, not too many of our federal representatives support this legislation.  Neither of our Senators support it and only three of our representatives - Gordon, Cooper and Cohen are co-sponsors.  Many thanks to the three of them.

Please give the remaining delegation a call and tell them that you want them to co-sponsor this legislation.  Call us and we’ll give you the low down, fact sheets and everything you need to state your case.

RvH