What's more frightening: elections or Halloween?

I'll restrain myself from post-election analysis here, except to say that the ousting of Representative James Oberstar (D-MN) will have long-term impacts on efforts to protect and strengthen the Clean Water Act. On a lighter note as we all wade through serious news stories, I stumbled across an unlikely pairing: Halloween and the Clean Water Act. And I can even more or less connect Rep. Oberstar to this pairing...with a little work.

Last week, Environment New Mexico and the state's Surface Water Quality Bureau had a little fun with serious topics by releasing a list of the Top Ten Frightening Facts about water quality in New Mexico.

The first two on the list address the current problems with questions about jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act...and there's our (okay weak) tie to Representative Oberstar, who has in past Congresses sponsored a bill to restore the Clean Water Act's jurisdictional coverage to its traditional scope:

1. Eerie ephemerals: Currently, 88 percent of streams in New Mexico are seasonal and at risk of losing their Clean Water Act protections due to U.S. Supreme Court rulings. The justices in 2006 decided the decades-old law applied only to navigable waters, ones boats can travel. That definition doesn't protect seasonal streams and ponds. Congress is considering legislation to restore protection of all waters under the Clean Water Act.

2. Shrinking water sources: More than 200,000 New Mexicans get their drinking water from sources fed by streams that may no longer be protected by the Clean Water Act. These are New Mexicans living within 15 miles of non-navigable streams from which they get their drinking water.

Check out the article for the full list and a few chuckles.