The Marine Retailers Association of the Americas supports S. 2245, a bill introduced by Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyoming) that would stop the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from taking over all private water in our country and has started a grassroots co-sponsor campaign.
The “Preserve the Waters of the U.S. Act” prevents the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers from using their overreaching guidance to change legal responsibilities under the Clean Water Act. MRAA believes the Clean Water Act is already so far reaching that we cannot afford to give these agencies carte-blanche authority to regulate private land and waters.
MRAA supports the rights of private property owners to be good stewards of their lands and waters. MRAA believes the new fees under the form 404 permits would be unaffordable if the EPA takes over private lakes. S. 2245 has 30 co-sponsors, but more are urgently needed for passage.
MRAA authored a letter encouraging Senator Barrasso that you can read by clicking this link.
Now, it’s YOUR turn to get involved.
MRAA has written a letter template that you can use to encourage your Senators to support this effort. There are four simple steps.
- Find your Senator at MRAA.com. Scroll to the bottom of the page to find contact details for your Senator.
- Select the link next to the words Web form in your Senator’s area of the site.
- Use the available contact form to email your Senator on a legislative issue.
- Copy and paste the following text into the body of the message. You will need to update part of this to make it specific to your business and your interests.
Dear Senator _____________:
I write to ask that you co-sponsor S. 2245, the Preserve the Waters of the U.S. Act.
(DESCRIBE YOUR BUSINESS INCLUDE WHAT YOU SELL, NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES, LOCATIONS, ETC,)
As a small business, we are very concerned about government agencies overreaching their authority to change legal responsibilities under the Clean Water Act. We understand the U.S. EPA wants to expand its authority by threatening private property rights, which will only serve to discourage economic growth and suppress job creation. It is time to cut through red tape and excessive government regulation to protect property owners, help small businesses, and to get people back to work.
An expansion of the Clean Water Act over private waters with an unfunded mandate will pre-empt states’ rights, which should not be done. S. 2265 will stop this action. Without passage of the bill, we will see increased cost of dredging permits, fill permits, NPDES permits, storm water permits, and other Clean Water programs.
But, most of all, we believe expanding federal control over intrastate waters will substantially interfere with the ability of individual property owners to use and be good stewards of their own property.
Please co-sponsor S. 2245.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,