EDITORIAL

Some ideas are slam-dunks. Some ideas are well-meant, but flawed. And

then there are ideas such as the one being pitched by a New Jersey

congressman to change the nation’s long-standing Clean Water Act, ideas

so misguided they would be laughable if they weren’t so threatening.

In this case, the threat is that the proposed legislation would allow

boaters to dump partially treated sewage into Huntington Harbour.

That’s right. Right now, there is strong federal protection on the

harbor’s waters. But under this proposal, boaters could simply disinfect

their waste through a process that kills bacteria but not viruses.

Huntington Beach city leaders, rightly, are outraged by the bill,

which Councilman Ralph Bauer called “a lot of nonsense,” and have

announced they will fight against it. There should be no hesitation to

their efforts -- this bill, if made law, would dirty Huntington Harbour,

plain and simple.

Leaders in neighboring Newport Beach, who are equally against the bill

-- which was introduced by Republican Rep. Jim Saxon -- have already sent

word to their member of Congress, Chris Cox, urging his opposition.

Huntington Beach leaders should be crafting a similar letter to our

congressman, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher. And leaders in both cities would be

wise to get together to pool their influence to sink this proposal well

before it gets any more life.

Fortunately, it appears that our local representatives see the folly

of this proposal.

A spokesman for Rohrabacher said, “There are better ways to go about

ensuring water quality.” While those words are not as strongly against

the bill as we would like to see, we assume that as Rohrabacher hears

more and more cries of outrage from his hometown, his opposition will

solidify.

Our elected officials should not let up until it does, and until this

bill is just a dirty memory.