Protecting US Waterways from the EPA

Susan Collins, R-Maine, was the only GOP lawmaker to vote “no”.

Enzi’s comments came shortly after the Senate voted (53-44) to disapprove of the EPA’s waters of the United States rule, crafted to allow the agency to regulate every pond, puddle and ditch in the United States.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said ahead of the 57-41 vote that the Obama “administration’s so-called Waters of the USA regulation is a cynical and overbearing power grab dressed awkwardly as a few clean water measure”.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said, “Senate Republicans continue to attack our landmark environmental laws, and this resolution would weaken the Clean Water Act – putting our children and families at risk because it takes away protections for drinking water for one in three Americans or 117 million people”. Donnelly for his leadership on this contentious issue and to both Senators Coats and Donnelly for their votes to send the flawed WOTUS rule back to the drawing board.

Barrasso’s bill, S. 1140, also known as the Federal Water Quality Protection Act, directed the EPA and Corps to issue a revised WOTUS rule that protects traditional navigable water and wetlands from water pollution, while also protecting farmers, ranchers and private landowners.

NCBA and PLC support the Federal Water Quality Protection Act and will continue to pursue legislation and litigation to withdraw the WOTUS rule.

Finalized in May, the Clean Water Rule has support from more than 800,000 Americans including 33,000 Illinoisans and is backed by more than 1,200 peer-reviewed scientific studies. “It is time for Congress to intervene”, Roberts said.

Wednesday’s resolution of disapproval was welcomed by Chip Bowling, president of the National Corn Growers Association and a farmer from Newburg, Md.

“I’ve heard from constituents across the state of Iowa who have grave concerns with the ambiguity of this rule”, said Iowa Sen.

Thirty-one states are legally challenging the rule in multiple federal courts, noted Bob Gray, editor of the Northeast Dairy Farmers Cooperatives’ NDFC Newsletter.

Resolutions of disapproval can be filed under the Congressional Review Act. The waters of the US rules aim to clean up remote sources that feed the nation’s rivers and lakes.

A total of 31 states and a number of industry groups have sued to stop it, mirroring state-based pushback on another controversial EPA proposal: Obama’s crackdown on carbon emissions from power plants. John Barasso (R-WY) which would force the EPA to scrap the regulation and “write a reasonable rule to protect our navigable waterways” after consulting with local and state officials, Barasso said in a statement.

“The decision by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals to block implementation of the WOTUS rule nationwide confirms that WOTUS was the wrong approach to protecting our water resources and reinforces the need to rein in this administration’s unprecedented and overreaching regulations”.