Water Rights Protection Act

Floor Speech

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I thank the chairman for yielding, and I want to thank the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Tipton) for leading on this issue.

Madam Chair, I rise in strong support of this legislation that finally puts a check and a balance on Federal agencies that are literally out there shaking down landowners over their property rights.

When you look at what the Federal Government is doing and you wonder why people are losing faith in the government, why people don't trust government, when a Federal agent shows up and says the only way you can get a permit is if you give up your property rights to your water, literally, extortion is coming from Federal bureaucrats.

This is not the way our government is supposed to operate, Madam Chair. This is what this legislation is here to remedy.

When you look at what is going on, it is not just the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture. We have seen this from other Federal agencies. Look at what the EPA does with their sue-and-settle process, where they literally go behind the cloak of darkness and cut secret deals and, again, force people to do things that aren't even in statute, just as a condition of getting basic permits. This is not how government is supposed to operate.

So while we have seen some of the egregious abuses limited in the Western parts of our country, this is not just a Western issue, Madam Chair. All Americans ought to be concerned when the Federal Government is literally shaking down and extorting Americans and forcing them to give away their private property rights just as a condition of getting a permit.

It is not right. It is not the right way to treat people. It is not the right way for the Federal Government to operate. This bill finally remedies that problem. It stops those abuses. I urge strong support of the legislation.

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