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<br />1'71 <br />S. 77, 97th Congress <br /> <br />Amendments to Sec. 404 <br /> <br />of the Clean Water Act <br />(404 dredge and fill permits) <br /> <br />, <br /> <br />By Mr. TOWER (for blmseU and <br />Mr. BENTsE1<1 : <br />S. 777. A bill to amend the Federal <br />Water Pollution Control Act to ,""strk" <br />the Jurisdiction of the United States over <br />the discharge of dredged or.till material <br />to those discharges wblch are into mwi- <br />gable wa.ters. and for other pu..n::oses; to <br />the Committee on Environment and <br />Public Works. <br />LE01St.ATION an.t.TtNG TO CISCHARCE OF <br />DJUroc!:D 0& nu. KATD.at. <br />Mr. TOWER. Mr. President, I am <br />today introducing with Senate: Buns.>:" <br />leg1sJatton that w'JI curta.i1 the seemingly <br />never...ending growth of the bureaucracy <br />and will clarify the Corps ot Engineers' <br />authortty over State water resources. <br />Federal agenCies have far overstepped <br />their bounds in their interpretation of <br />what constitutes a ''navigable stream'. <br />under Public Law 92-500. <br />The bill would restrict exl>8l1S1on of <br />Federal authority over nonnavigable <br />waters under section 404 of the Federal <br />Water Pollution Control Act. which au- <br />thorizes the corps to issue permits tar <br />activities tn navigable waters invol'r1r:a <br />tile dis<:harge of dredged or 1111 material. <br />Mr. President, the intent of the bill I <br />introduce today is not new to Congress. r <br />attempted in 1975 and 1977 to obtain <br />congressIonal mandate to instill com. <br />monsense in the Corps of Eng1neers' <br />pennit procedures by llmiting its juri.s~ <br />diction over waters which are neither <br />navigable nor critical to navigation. BOL~ <br />attempts failed by only a narrow margin. <br />But. Mr. President, the country ccn~ <br />tioues to be faced with a growing regu- <br />latory scheme covering not Just the wet- <br />land.; of the Natton. but virtually all sur. <br />lace tvaters. PrOlonged delays and plles <br />of redtape oontinue to prevail, precipi- <br />tating a further erosion ot public con- <br />fidence in and support of the legitimate <br />objectives ot the clean water ettort. <br />In particular. section 404 ot tIle 1792 <br />act has been cited by the corps tor th~ <br />acttons it has taken both in dem'lng <br />o~'ners the right to disCharge material <br />on their o~;n property-wetlands and In <br />dC.llying public citi2ens navigation dis- <br />tricts and municipalities what the corps <br />broodly Interprets as the right to <br />undertake flood control projects t!1at <br />would alTect the ''waters of the United <br />States." <br />Now In the 97th Congress I seek once <br />again Ule definition of "navig<1ble <br />waters" to mean what it meant in the <br />Hi,'er and Harbors Act of 1889. Quite <br />