EPA Declares L.A. River 'Navigable,' Stretches Regulatory Reach

New York Times ^ | Friday July 9, 2010 | PAUL QUINLAN

[Willie Green]

Film buffs might recognize the Los Angeles River as the gigantic concrete gutter used for car chases in "Grease," "Terminator 2" and other movies.

But the river is something else for U.S. EPA: "a traditional navigable water."

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson's declaration of the cement-lined channel today as "navigable" is aimed at allowing her agency to enforce Clean Water Act protections throughout the river's 834-square-mile watershed.

"This designation assures the community that their local waters are protected by the nation's water laws," Jackson said in a statement. "A clean, vibrant L.A. River system can help revitalize struggling communities, promoting growth and jobs for residents of Los Angeles. We want the L.A. River to demonstrate how urban waterways across the country can serve as assets in building stronger neighborhoods, attracting new businesses and creating new jobs."

Environmentalists cheered Jackson's declaration as key to limiting destruction of the river's tributaries and wetlands and expanding recreational opportunities for Los Angeles residents. They also said the move shows that Western rivers, despite their propensity to run dry because they are overtapped for irrigation and drinking supplies, deserve full protection under the Clean Water Act.

Recent Supreme Court rulings have strictly interpreted "navigable" as the means of determining which water bodies deserve federal regulatory protections aimed at limiting industrial discharges and protecting wetlands.

Repeated efforts by Democrats in Congress to strike the word "navigable" from the Clean Water Act and expand federal regulatory power have failed in the face of intense opposition from agricultural lobbyists and other industry opponents. The most recent effort appears stalled (E&ENews PM).

[originalbuckeye]

This is ridiculous. The only time the ‘LA River’ has water in it is during heavy storms and then the water is not anything close to clean. The LA River is mostly known for attracting kids when the water is racing. Often kids drown in the river during the floods that sometimes occur in SoCal. The rest of the time it is nothing but a big concrete gully. This is just Big Brother wanting more and more power.

[Red Badger]

It is “navigable”.....by car.................

[agere_contra]

It’s a fracking storm drain! Anything you can drive a truck down is not a navigable waterway.

Big Socialism is attempting another land-grab here.

[bill1952]

>”A clean, vibrant L.A. River system can help revitalize struggling communities, promoting growth and jobs for residents of Los Angeles.

LOL! How? Every time some hack wants to steal our $ for some inane pet project that grows government, they trumpet this mantra, as if the mere sound of the words alone can stimulate the semi comatose voters into marching into the tunnels again.

They may be right, but I ask again: “how?”

[originalbuckeye]

Obviously they think we’re STUPID! Big Media is stupid and never questions any Dem proclamation. The people are slowly waking up to realize that Leftists rarely have even a passing acquaintance with the truth.

[RC2]

“The rest of the time it is nothing but a big concrete gully.”?????? No, no, no. It’s one of the best drag strips around. I did a lot of racing in the river as a kid, even years before Grease.

[posterchild]

Is it something Al Gore could float down in a canoe without a dam releasing water?

[muawiyah]

The LA river didn't run dry due to over industrialization and development.

Hard for some folks to believe, but it's been that way since the last major glaciation period in North America.

[Cheapskate]

Now wait just a cotton pickin minuite

Navigable waterway???????isn't that where they do the police chases for TV?????

these tyrants will do or say anything to extend power!!!!

[tacticalogic]

One more time. Overturn Wickard v Filburn and get rid of the "substantial effects doctrine" of the Commerce Clause.

It's an open-ended grant of power the idiots in Washington keep proving over and over again that they can't be trusted with.

[C19fan]

If the LA River is “navigable” then so is the aqueducts in CA.

[20 years too late]

I met a person in the 70’s who said his father worked on the construction of the LA river system. He said the river system was also designed to mobilize the military and or police in a disaster. Makes sense.

[BitWielder1]

Okay, during the next major downpour, DON'T let the water go into the ocean.
It's forbidden per EPA dictate.

[tx_eggman]

Global Warming is dead.

The next big issue is water. If the statists control the water, they control everything.

[Smokin' Joe]

The definition of a "navigable" river used to be one you could float a log in, implying that at least a canoe could use it for transportation.

Trashing the definition brings every dry watercourse in the country under the control of the EPA. Think about that. The implications are unreal, especially in the hands of this power-hungry bunch of dirt-worshipping moonbats.

[The_Reader_David]

It seems if we get control of the House come November, one of the first priorities should be to defund the EPA. We can start giving the agency money to run again when there are sane people in the White House. (Though cutting the White House budget so there’s no money to pay “czars” should probably be higher—cut down on the number of lunatics in the White House in the meantime.)

[Thommas]

Obviously they think we’re STUPID!

50% of the population has an I.Q. of less than 100. At one standard deviation to the left of the mean average of intelligence, again 100, 86% of these people are morons or worse; yet, they drive, hold jobs and vote. The savvy media and pols KNOW this voting block is stupid.

[ErnBatavia]

As kids, we would be like spelunkers and take the underground channels that eventually tied into the L.A. river.....all the way from the eastern edge of Glendale.

Great fun.

[Pontiac]

Repeated efforts by Democrats in Congress to strike the word "navigable" from the Clean Water Act and expand federal regulatory power have failed in the face of intense opposition from agricultural lobbyists and other industry opponents.

Remove the word “navigable” and you remove any attempt to have any semblance of a constitutional law in the Clean Water Act.

The only possible constitutional validity for the Clean Water Act is the Interstate Commerce Clause. Remove navigable waterways from the law and the Federal Government has no jurisdiction.

I can’t be sure but I believe that there is case law that a navigable water way must be navigable a large portion of the year and be capable of supporting commercial vessels.