Update on Clean Water Restoration Act

The U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee passed S. 787, the Clean Water Restoration Act (CWRA) of 2009 out of committee two weeks ago. Currently, there is no clear plan on when or if the CWRA will go to the full U.S. Senate for a vote. Senator Crapo (R-Idaho) has placed a hold on the bill, which means supporters will have to convince 60 U.S. Senators to vote in favor of the bill in order to release the hold.

If passed into law, the CWRA would expand federal authority by removing the word "navigable" from the current Clean Water Act definition of waters of the U.S. The new definition would expand the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Army Corps of Engineers regulatory control over all wet areas within a state including stock tanks, drainage ditches, ponds, small and intermittent streams, creek beds, playa lakes and mud holes.