Some people fear it’s a federal power grab. Others say it’s a crucial measure to protect America’s waters.

The Clean Water Restoration Act, introduced by Congressman Jim Oberstar in May, has attracted attention across Minnesota and beyond. Oberstar, D-Chisholm, has said the CWRA will help fight water pollution at its source.

The bill proposes to change the federal government’s jurisdiction from “navigable waters” to “waters in the United States.”

Last month, McLeod County joined a number of organizations in officially opposing the bill. County Commissioner Ray Bayerl brought the proposed bill to the rest of the board’s attention and strongly opposes it.

Bayerl believes the bill would greatly expand the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ authority over local development. “There wouldn’t be any local control anymore,” he said.

The bill’s genesis
According to Mary Kerr, a spokesperson for Oberstar, the need for the CWRA arose after two U.S. Supreme Court decisions in 2001 and 2006. The decisions muddied a previously clear definition of the federal government’s authority.

“The paradoxical result of the Supreme Court opinions,” Kerr wrote in an e-mail response to an interview request, “was to limit the jurisdictional authority of the Clean Water Act — while at the same time, being unclear as to where federal authority begins and ends.”

For more on how the proposed Clean Water Restoration Act might effect you, see the full story in the Leader’s Dec. 13 print edition.

(Jorge Sosa is a staff writer for the Hutchinson Leader. He can be reached at sosa@hutchinsonleader.com [2])