With all of this talk about federal control over wetlands and ditches, I think it may be time for the Federal government to step forward and start regulating "Lands of the United States". There seems to be strong support for the concept that Federal Regulatory control over all wetlands will solve our aquatic resource problems. And the distinction between wet and dry seems to be less important. If you put upland land use control together with wetland land use control, it would seem that many , if not all, of the our environmental problems could be solved. The ordinary high water line could be replaced by the ordinary high atmosphere line. The Corps of Engineers could work hand-in-hand with the Bureau of Land Management. The other Federal agencies could develop essential habitat for all sorts of creatures. Employment opportunities for lawyers and consultants would expand resulting in an economic stimulus package for the economy. Universities could expand their cirricula to offer Bachelors and Masters in Permitting (B.P. and M.P.) The U.S Coast Guard could then patrol and protect all these new TNWs. We could expand the Clean Air Act to require air permits for breathing. Flatulence could be defined as a discharge requiring a federal permit. Everyone will agree that there is a lot of navigation going on out there above the ordinary high water line. I think this concept could generate some interesting discussions, and certainly infinite regulatory possibilities.

That is truly frightening.

Ed: Your ideas are not so far-fetched after all. EPA recently proposed to include carbon dioxide in its list of air pollutants. Under their proposal, you could legally breathe in all of the air you wanted, but exhaling would require a federal permit.

And consider the twisted double-speak which prevails within the Corps program:

Land is water
Pilings are fill
Excavation is discharge
Ditches are navigable