In a diary last year, I wrote about the Clean Water Rule's long and winding history. Seeing the rule now adopted by the Obama EPA and Corps of Engineers is a great step forward. But GOP leaders in Congress are determined to block the rule's implementation:



"This rule in its current form is a massive overreach of EPA authority," said House Agriculture Committee Chairman Mike Conaway (R-Texas).

Of course, this "overreach" only reinstates a portion of the same EPA jurisdiction that was in place under the Reagan Administration. But inconvenient facts don't deter anti-Clean Water voices in Congress. The House has voted to block the rule , and WY Senator Barasso has legislation to do the same advancing in the Senate.

The most-frequently stated concerns are that the rule will harm farmers and ranchers - despite the fact that the interpretive rule makes clear that standard farming practices are not regulated by the Clean Water Act. The National Farmers Union has a fact sheet dispelling some of these myths.

So if the rule doesn't really harm agriculture, what is the agenda behind opposition? To eliminate Clean Water Act regulations on more waterways for the benefit of developers that want to dredge and fill wetlands and dischargers that want a pass to pollute.

The White House has threatened to veto legislation blocking the Clean Water Rule, but if too many Democrats join Republicans in opposing the rule a veto could be overriden. And of course, anti-Clean Water language could be added into muss-pass appropriations bills.

Unfortunately, too many Democrats - particularly from the midwest and west - have been all too willing to attack the Clean Water Act. Earlier this month, Liberty Equality Fraternity and Trees wrote about the 24 Dems that voted against water quality protection. On the Senate side in March, 5 Democratic Senators (Donnelly - IN, Heitkamp - ND, Klobuchar - MN, Manchin-WV, and McCaskill - MO) and one independent (King - ME) also voted against EPA's efforts to protect water quality.

Today is a good day - the Administration has done the right think to bolster protection of our nation's waters. But holding that ground will be difficult, and we need to pressure Democrats in Congress to support the President and uphold his veto when anti-Clean Water Act legislation is passed through the GOP-controlled Congress. Western and midwestern democrats, in particular, need to hear from constituents supporting clean water to rebut the misinformation being spread about the rule's supposed impacts on farming and ranching.

A diverse group including brewers, hunters, local officials, many family farmers(in contrast to corporate agri-business), and anglers all support the rule. As Senator Cardin (D-DE) pointed out in a great piece in The Hill,87% of the more than 1 million comments submitted on the draft rule also supported it. Unfortunately, a majority in Congress disagrees.

Few Americans would argue that the problem with America's water is that it is too clean. But that is exactly the inside-the-beltway thinking that currently holds sway with Congress. We need to stand with President Obama and fight back.

One of America's rivers before the Clean Water Act ...