Water-Regulation-As-Federalism Bill Passes House, Looks A Lot Like ALEC

[cal04]

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/07/water-regulation-as-federalism_bill_passes_house_l.php?ref=fpb

After being fast tracked by a House panel and passing the House last week, a bill that would strip fundamental powers of the EPA to regulate water toxins crept closer to a Senate vote.
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/vote.xpd?vote=h2011-573

It bears a striking resemblance to several pieces of "model legislation" recently leaked from The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), and might be the newest testament to the organization's potency.

The mission of the Clean Water Cooperative Federalism Act of 2011 (H.R. 2018) is self-evident in its title. It would eliminate, wholesale, the EPA's power to supersede individual states' water pollution rules. States would no longer be held to federal water quality standards they disagree with, and the EPA would be unable to make changes to Clean Water Act quality standards without states' approval.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d112:HR02018:@@@L&summ2=m&

It would prohibit the federal government from "specification of any defined area as a disposal site for the discharge of dredged or fill material into navigable waters," so if the state does not believe the dumped material would harm drinking water or fisheries, then chemical dumping and manufacturing runoff would not be prevented.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

1. Makes sense. Rivers and lakes seldom cross state boundries.

:sarcasm:

[madrchsod]

3. our entire watershed across northern il starts in southern wisconsin

the rock river and it`s tributaries are finally cleaned up.

[iwishiwas]

2. ALEC Bills in Wisconsin.................

http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/07/10880/alec-bills-wisconsin
ALEC Bills in Wisconsin
Submitted by Mary Bottari on July 14, 2011 - 8:07am

In the 2010 elections, Republicans emerged with seven more governor’s mansions. They also won control of 26 state legislatures, up from 14. In many trifecta states, where a new Republican majority won control of both houses and the governorship, an odd thing happened. A steady stream of almost identical bills –- bills to defund unions, require Photo ID's make it harder for democratic constituencies to vote, bills to privatize schools and public assets, bills to enshrine corporate tax loopholes while crippling the government’s ability to raise revenue, bills to round up immigrants –- were introduced and passed. An almost identical set of corporations benefited from these measures.

It is almost as if a pipeline in the basement of these state capitols ruptured simultaneously, and a flood of special interest legislation poured out. The blowout preventer –- political power-sharing –- was disabled. The source of the contamination? The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

This week, the Center for Media and Democracy unveiled its ALEC Exposed website to display an archive of over 800 ALEC "model bills." This archive will allow reporters and citizen journalists to identify the ALEC bills moving in their states. We encourage researchers to search for some of the measures written about below.
ALEC in Wisconsin

Decades ago, ALEC targeted Wisconsin as a test case for their agenda. Tommy Thompson, who served as a state legislator from 1966-1987 and then as governor for a record 14 years, was an early ALEC member and supporter. "Myself, I always loved going to these meetings because I always found new ideas. Then I'd take them back to Wisconsin, disguise them a little bit, and declare that 'It's mine,'" he told an ALEC conference in 2002.

[madrchsod]

4. now who was responsible for the epa...oh yes i remember it was....

NIXON! dam that crazy ass paranoid nixon was responsible for the epa. by today`s standards he`d could`t be elected to any republican office. oh ya, throw in osha and he`d be in sarah`s cross hairs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reorganization_Plan_No._3



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Environmental_Policy_Act


what? an executive order?

[woodsprite]

5. Anybody have any suggestions as to what country to move to?

I want to live in a country where there is a decent standard of living, a majority of the people care about what is going o be left of this world when our children grow up, want a good education for all and take pride in things like individuality, creativity, local manufacturing, care about the quality of life for all of their people, not just the rich, that the food we ate/air we breathe was safe and healthy, and take pride in their standing in the world. Does such a country even exist nowadays?

That country used to be the United States. It isn't any of those things anymore. It makes me sad and afraid for what kind of a future my children and grandchildren will inherit.