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<br />00lGSQ <br /> <br />seriously polluting our nation's waters, whether and by what means the problem shall be <br /> <br />corrected. For the most part Congress chooses to control serious pollution problems by placing <br /> <br />liability with those in control of the pollutants being discharged. 38 Although irrigation return <br /> <br />flows are exempted from the statutory definition of point source, it is unlikely as a matter of <br /> <br />policy that Congress will deviate from the general principle of placing responsibility with those <br />who control the pollutants being discharged.39 <br /> <br />There are examples of situations where Congress has decided to place the burden of <br /> <br />pollution control on other than those in control of the pollution being discharged. One such <br /> <br />example is. municipal waste water where Congress decided to make construction grants rather .. <br /> <br />than require local governments to bear the full financial burden of meeting water quality goals. <br /> <br />Another example is agriculture, where there exists a long history of direct federal financing of <br /> <br />necessary remedial measures for the excesses of American agriculture. In the drought and <br /> <br />depression years of the 19305, excessive and improper farming practices had laid to waste huge <br /> <br />acreages, and Congress, under the heading of "conservation," picked up the tab.40 The <br /> <br />approach of the conservation movement was to encourage voluntary remediation by landownetS <br /> <br />who would be given expert advice and direct financial assistance. When Congress enacted clean <br /> <br />38 See l!enerallv W. Rodgers, Jr., 2 Environmental Law: Air & Water 150 (1986). <br /> <br />39 See. e.l!.. Friends of Sakonnet v. Dutra, 738 F. Supp. 623 (D.RL 1990). <br /> <br />40 In C. Meine, Aldo Leopold: H"lS Life and Work 321 (1988), Leopold's opposition to <br />New Deal expenditures for soil conservation is noted. He felt that wholesale public <br />expenditures amounted to a taking over, by the taxpaying public at large, of the bills incurred <br />by the private landowner who abuses land: "Abuse is no longer merely a question of depleting a <br />capital asset, but of actually creating a cash liability against the taxpayer." As Meine <br />summarized Leopold's position, "the environmental chickens . . . were coming home to roost on <br />the taxpayer's doorstep." <br /> <br />34 <br />