Editor, the Advocate:

The EPA has proposed a guidance document to the Clean Water Act that attempts to establish regulatory control over all waters! This document will expand the EPA's authority beyond what Congress authorized it to do in the CWA and is contrary to the limits imposed by the Supreme Court. The intent of the Clean Water Act gave the EPA regulatory rights of "waters of the United States" which means "navigable" waters currently used, or were used in the past, or may be susceptible to use as interstate or foreign commerce. But the EPA proposed guidance document ignores Congressional intent and takes out the term "navigable" from the CWA. This expands the EPA's interpretation of "waters of the U.S." to include any or all waters found within a state, no matter how small or seemingly unconnected to a federal interest even if water is only present for a few days a year. (A puddle on your family farm?)

If the guidance document being reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget is finalized, the EPA can begin implementation because it will function like a regulation and will be used to bind the actions of the agency. This is the same kind of regulation proposed in the Law of the Sea Treaty, which is up for ratification in the Senate.

Have you heard of Agenda 21? This sounds like Agenda 21 in play, a globalist attempt to impose U.N. environmental regulations, such as virtual elimination of private ownership, denying access to "wild lands," government control of fishery and farm harvest, and equal rights for all living and nonliving objects: humans, animals, plants, rocks and rivers.

I will be emailing the entities involved along with my Congress reps to ask for withdrawal of this document. Unconstitutional government makes it impossible for us to protect our liberties and rights. Allowing government bureaucracies to ignore the rule of law under the Constitution makes it difficult, if not impossible, to restore it once again.

Contact Texas Farm Bureau for more information about this issue.

Janice Ohrt, Victoria