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By
Andrew S. Lewis, NJ SpotlightApril 28, 2021
For Steve Meserve of the Lewis Fishery, the preferred method of setting the seine is by rowing, because he has found that a motor affects the shad hauls. (Andrew S. Lewis/NJ Spotlight)
This story originally appeared on NJ Spotlight.
Steve Meserve wasn’t feeling optimistic. A storm front had moved in overnight and a cold, west-northwest wind was running down the river. The 54-degree water temperature, he said, “makes the shad want to sit down in an eddy somewhere and wait for warmer weather.”
But here in Lambertville, on a wide and deep reach of the Delaware River, this spring’s shad run has been good, even promising. As they have done most every night from late March through May since 1888, fishermen from Lewis Fishery slipped on hip waders and prepared a battered flat-bottom and seine for the evening’s haul.
Latta introduces legislation to address ‘regulatory overreach’
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Rep. Bob Latta, R-Bowling Green, on Monday introduced the Withstanding Attempts to Encroach on our Resources Act which, if enacted, would amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act and define the term Waters of the United States, or WOTUS.
“In 2015, the Corps of Engineers and Environmental Protection Agency revised regulations defining the scope of waters protected and regulated under the Clean Water Act,” Latta said in a prepared statement. “This significantly expanded federal jurisdiction over virtually all waters and wet areas in the United States. This decision, known as the 2015 WOTUS rule, infringes on the rights of property owners particularly in agricultural communities.
U.S. waterways may get redefined via WOTUS
The back-and-forth related to Waters of the United States (WOTUS) dates back to the language of a 1972 amendment to the Clean Water Act that established federal jurisdiction over “navigable waters.”
The tug-of-war over the definition of that term has been particularly active since a 2006 Supreme Court ruling. That decision perpetrated a definition of WOTUS by the Bush administration, and then a change by both the Obama and Trump administrations.
“The problem here is the underlying law the Federal Water Pollution Control Act is not being viewed the same by all sides and by all stakeholders,” explained National Milk Producers Federation’s Paul Bleiberg during the January 20
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On December 17, 2020, the Sacramento County Superior Court substantially limited the scope of waters to which the State Procedures for Discharges of Dredged and Fill Material (“Procedures”) apply through its decision in
San Joaquin Tributaries Authority v. State Water Resources Control Board (Case No. 34-2019-80003133). According to the Court, the State Water Resources Control Board (“State Water Board”) exceeded its policy-making and water quality control plan development authority, resulting in the restriction of the Procedures to those waters regulated under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act or Clean Water Act (“CWA”) and State “ocean waters.” The Court’s decision significantly narrows the delta between the discharges of dredged and fill material regulated exclusively under the Procedures, and those that will now be regulated under both federal and state water quality control laws. However, bec