Statement released by Texas State Representative Bill Callegari –
Texas has a sovereign right, reinforced by more than a century’s worth of sound public policy, over the management and control its water resources. Previous generations amended the Texas Constitution to support the conservation and development of our water resources. Over fifty ago, on the heels of an extraordinary drought, legislators created the Texas Water Development Board to ensure the continued availability of water supplies. More recently, policy leaders developed water planning processes to identify and develop the resources needed for growing domestic, agricultural, and environmental needs. Now, all of Texas’ water resources, from major rivers to minor aquifers, are governed by state policies.
These policies were created by Texans, for Texas, and address our unique environmental conditions while respecting private property rights. We owe this to our sovereign right over this state’s water resources, and the obligations of stewardship attendant to that right.
Unfortunately, several proposals percolating in Washington to expand federal authority over this nation’s waters threaten Texas’ right to manage and control its own water resources. The most immediate threat is entitled the Clean Water Restoration Act. The title of this bill is misleading: rather than “restore” the Clean Water Act, the bill does everything to expand it.
Currently, only navigable waters of the United States are subject to the Clean Water Act’s requirements. This means that if a body of water is big enough to maneuver a ship, a person must obtain a federal clean water permit before discharging water into that navigable body. These permits are not cheap. The US Supreme Court found that the average applicant for an individual permit spends 788 days and over $270,000 processing the necessary paperwork. Failure to have a permit can result in thousands of dollars in fines and even imprisonment.
The Act before Congress would place all waters — not just navigable ones — under federal Clean Water Act regulation. If approved by federal lawmakers, owners of detention ponds, storm drains, and irrigation canals, to name a few, may need a costly federal permit. More alarmingly, Texas’ cities, farmers, and even water districts will be subject to a level of regulatory control that never existed before.
The Clean Water Restoration Act could be just the beginning. Another measure that Congress may consider would create a new federal bureaucracy headed by a White House water “czar” responsible for developing a national water resource policy. This draft bill, called the Sustainable Watershed Planning Act, is based on a top-down policy paradigm where federal bureaucrats could dictate water planning criteria and policies to the states.
This proposed centralized approach to water planning could unilaterally usurp Texas’ control over her own waters while ruining a state planning process that already works.
Like a river cresting in a Texas flood, the list of federal proposals continues to grow. At the bequest of out-of-state environmental activists, the US Fish and Wildlife Service has begun its review of nearly two dozen water-related species that are indigenous to Texas — including eleven freshwater mollusks, four salamanders, eight fish, a snail, an insect, and a crustacean — for possible inclusion on the federal endangered species list. If approved by federal bureaucrats, these additions could jeopardize the continued availability of water to towns and farms throughout the state.
Another proposal being considered at the behest of environmentalists would revise federal principles and guidelines for water resources planning to emphasize ecological goals over economic and human well-being. Further, the White House is considering amending a Carter Administration program relating to floodplain management to limit land uses along our waterways.
The measures being considered in Washington would genuinely interfere with Texas’ sovereignty. If approved, they would subordinate Texas’ water priorities to federal decisions, and shove this state’s right to manage its own water resources aside to make way for federal control and bureaucracies. This cannot happen.
If Texas is to maintain her sovereignty over her water resources, our Congressional delegation needs to work with legislators from other states and Texas’ own water leaders to stop these measures from being enacted. Texas has a strong tradition of stewardship over her waters. Decisions regarding this precious resource are best left to state policy-makers, and not federal bureaucrats or a Congress mired in other issues.
Representative Bill Callegari represents the west Harris County and Katy area in the Texas House of Representatives. He is currently serving his third term as Vice Chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee. Before his election to the House of Representatives in 2000, Representative Callegari worked for over 30 years in the water industry.