I recall a number of years go reading an article about a particular mountain top removal mine in the Appalachians that was portrayed (by the article) as an ecological disaster for the entire area. So I looked for it on Google Earth to see what it looked like. I had trouble finding it amidst the mountainous area where it sat. Compared to the area surrounding the mine it was a spec in the landscape. I’m sure it was ugly devastation to someone looking directly at that mountain, but if one were to go a few miles up the road, they would never know it was there. And when the mine is exhausted and the land reclaimed, nobody except those who were around before the mine opened will be able to tell that that knoll used to be a mountain.
What they did was use science to declare under the clean water act that smaller streams etc. were polluting the navigable waters of the larger lakes and rivers, based on a 400 page report with exactly such findings. The effect might be the same, but they did not change the meaning of “navigable”.
There are people throwing gates and ropes across rivers to restrict access in some areas of North Carolina. It is just a big mess.
All the brooks crossing my property eventually make their way to the Fisher River, well below my property. The Fisher River in this part of Surry County is rocky and un-navigable. It becomes navigable for kayaks and canoes as you get towards central and southeastern Surry County, but that point is about 12 miles southeast of where I am.
There is no question where I am that we can restrict access to rivers and brooks crossing our property. But in areas where the waters are navigable, there are attempts to restrict assess that are likely improper.
But… government is here to help. 
What that article fails to say is that the last 150 years have been the wettest in California in the last 7000 years.
Which kind of reinforces my theory that the global warming enthusiasts believe the earth’s climate was supposed to remain locked in place at around 1850, and any deviation in climate or temps from that - is all the fault of humans.
Yes, even though in 1850, the world (or maybe just the northern hemisphere, according to some) was still under the effect of the little ice age. But conveniently for them in the last half of the 19th century, just as the LIA ended, the Industrial Age hit it’s stride making making man an easy scapegoat for the warming that occurred following that 600 year cold era.
You don’t own the rights to surface waters that flow, only on man made impoundments.
They are federal water projects and fed’s have jurisdiction over agriculture under the ICC.
It’s kinda funny since we know that nature removes those mountain tops if we don’t.
Different flavors for different states. As a landowner that’s a good thing for NC.
For the city dweller who want to go out and play for the weekend it’s a frustration.
Doesn’t change the fact that you are claiming politicians in Washington DC know best how local issues shoudl be decided.
This is a huge reversal of principals for the conservative movement. Can you explain this change in principles?
Smyrna says “grow food” but TL say “farmers”. Yeah…that isn’t the same? 
Smyrna says “then came people” but TL says “expand the city of LA”. Yeah…that isn’t the same.
Dude…you’re cracking up and…cracking me up.
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Bureaucracy would appear to be a big problem.
Unless the author of this article is exaggerating, California has hundreds of water agencies?
Also, from the article, here’s the thing about California agriculture:
There are mismatches in California’s water supplies and uses. The most obvious one is that agriculture generates just 2% of California’s $2.6 trillion economy but consumes three times as much water as all other human activities.
On the other hand, California grows crops that are found no where else in the country.
California grows over 200 different crops , some grown nowhere else in the nation. Crops include grapes, almonds, strawberries, oranges and walnuts. California produces almost all of the country’s almonds, apricots, dates, figs, kiwi fruit, nectarines, olives, pistachios, prunes, and walnuts.
I doubt the “State” of California has hundreds of “water agencies”. They are probably counting every State agency that has any impact on water, any county agency that has impact on water, and city/town/village that has impact on water.
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.WW, PHS
In several million years, not overnight. Not the same thing.
And the mountains are part of the heart and soul of Appalachian culture.
If there was TRULY a need for coal that justified it, that might be one thing. But coal power is a dying entity. Duke Energy is in the process of decommissioning all their coal fired power plants. This likely will be completed over the next decade in North Carolina. The TVA is also shutting down its coal fired plants.
There are other sources of coal that can be tapped without tearing up the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee, which is what they have been trying to get a permit for. And numerous Tennessee Republicans oppose strip mining that area, including the Republican State Attorney General.
They don’t need to be tearing up Appalachia anymore than they have already done. Particularly not in the name of a dying industry.
The Owens Valley in central Cali was not irrigated. It was orange groves as far as the eye could see and prime farming land. The irrigation stole all their water.
That kayaks and canoes can use it does not make it navigable. The Federal definition of Navigable under 33 U.S.C. is:
Section 329.4 - General definition
Navigable waters of the United States are those waters that are subject to the ebb and flow of the tide and/or are presently used, or have been used in the past, or may be susceptible for use to transport interstate or foreign commerce. A determination of navigability, once made, applies laterally over the entire surface of the waterbody, and is not extinguished by later actions or events which impede or destroy navigable capacity.
It’s federal purview and food is more imortant than lawns, swimming pools, and golf courses.
Protecting the food supply is most certainly more important than protecting minnows.
They have a hell of a lot of local and county water districts.
