Total erosion of our state’s 10th Amendment Rights if implemented
By former State Rep. Sid Miller
Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN, Texas – The EPA — dominated by a group of out-of-touch metal desk bureaucrats, aging hippies, and out-of-control radical environmentalist — is ignoring a Supreme Court decision, as well as the precious private property and water rights of every American by planning a power grab which will give it unfettered federal control of all ditches, arroyos, streams & gullies, dry creeks, playa lakes, wetlands and virtually any land that has any kind of water on it for any amount of time during the year.
At the same time Barack Obama is rightfully criticizing Vladimir Putin for his outrageous and unlawful land grabs in Crimea, he is presiding over an equally outrageous and unlawful land and water grab right here at home.
This proposed Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule would apply regulations to the United States “intermittent and ephemeral streams and wetlands” created any time it rains, even if they are purely temporary bodies of water.
Under this ruling there won’t be much that won’t be affected. This would mean many states like Alaska, Louisiana and other high rainfall states, including most of Texas, will be under almost total control of the EPA.
Currently, as previously ruled by the Supreme Court, the EPA only has jurisdiction over “relatively permanent or continuously flowing and sizeable waters, like oceans, rivers, streams and lakes.” This new rule would create a major sea change and throw the long held tenant of 
private land and water stewardship out the window.
As a farmer, rancher, former Chair of the Agriculture and Livestock Committee in the Texas House of Representatives, and someone who has earned his living off the land, I see this as just the latest example in a long list of abuse. The EPA is going well beyond its scope of duties.
The Obama Administration and the EPA has, and continues to ignore Congress and the Supreme Court and is attempting, one new rule at a time, to have the ability to regulate the entire country. If this rule is adopted, it will open the door to law suits by radical environmental groups, put a stop to oil, gas, and coal exploration, and severely cripple many agriculture enterprises.
This is, without a doubt, a clear over reach by the federal government and is a first class example of why I have stated over and over in my campaign for Texas Agriculture Commissioner that the greatest danger to Texas agriculture and property owners is an out-of-control federal government.
Should this rule be implemented it will result in a total erosion of our state’s rights under the 10th amendment, and will give full control to the federal government over all our Nation’s waters. This will cripple our economy, damage the free enterprise system, and cause undue hardship to our farmers, ranchers and private landowners who history shows us are always the best stewards of our land.
I will be fighting back and encourage every liberty loving American to join me in doing so as well. There will be a 90 day comment period prior to the rule being adopted, and we can rest assured that this unfair and constitutionally prohibited taking will have strong support from leftist environmental groups, selfish personal injury trial lawyers, as well as the mainstream media.
Please join me in this important fight and submit your comments to the EPA as soon as possible when it opens up the comment period.
You may comment at http://www2.epa.gov/uswaters or send them to me at www.MillerforTexas.com and I will forward them on 
your behalf to the EPA and to our state’s congressional leaders.
We cannot let Barack Obama and the EPA win this battle. Working and standing together, we can stop them.
Sid Miller is a former Texas House of Representatives Member currently running for the Republican nomination to be Texas Agriculture Commissioner. For more information, visit MillerForTexas.com.
