Our waterways are under attack.  The political scene is becoming flooded with assaults on the protections for our national and state waterways.  Just recently, our own Senator Rand Paul proposed the “Defense of the Environment and Property Act of 2012.”  Don’t let the title fool you.  This bill is just another attempt to strip down the protections on our nation’s waterways.

Senator Paul’s bill has made specific efforts to target critical headwater streams, and wetlands.  The bill proposes changes in terminology and definitions that would result in the removal of the EPA’s and the US Army Corps of Engineer’s legal authority to protect ephemeral and intermittent streams, which are often some of the most ecologically important waterways. 

Senator Paul says that “environmental protection must be balanced with the fundamental American right to private property” and that this bill is an effort “to bring common sense to federal water policy.” 

We wholeheartedly disagree that this bill brings any sort of common sense to federal water policy.  In fact, Senator Paul’s bill disregards the common sense of scientific knowledge, the natural interconnectedness of hydrologic systems, and the fundamental reality that all things flow downstream, and that all upstream impacts will have a subsequent impact downstream (Newton’s Third Law). 

Finally, of all things, Senator Paul’s bill actually suggests the federal government spend more money, by paying landowners twice the worth of their land, all because their property value is supposedly diminished due to a wetland designation.

Please be a voice on behalf of Kentucky’s waterways, and let our Senators know that this bill represents a significant step backwards in the protection of critical waterways and aquatic ecosystems. 

Act NOW to prevent this bill from receiving support by filling out the form below!