Senate backs resolution to get rid of EPA clean water rules

The Senate has passed a joined resolution of disapproval on the Waters of the U.S. Rule by a vote of 53-44.

WOTUS, as it’s commonly known, would redefine how “waters of the United States” are subject to federal regulations under the Clean Water Act.

“The EPA’s overreach is one of the clearest examples of how Ron Johnson is standing up for farmers and manufacturers in Wisconsin and around the country – and how Senator Feingold has long since sold them down the river.” said Ron Johnson campaign spokesperson Brian Reisinger in an email to the Daily Caller News Foundation.

As Senator Harry Reid of Nevada stressed, the Senate Republican leadership has no plan to help protect the public from water pollution. “Can we mow the right of way without a federal permit?’ Because there is no question if this passes that every roadside ditch in the entire state of Missouri would be considered navigable waters”. Republicans are expected to try to use the fiscal 2016 omnibus spending bill to block the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers from enforcing the rule even if the courts allow it to move forward.

Earlier this year, the Obama administration and the EPA sought to solve this issue by enacting a new measure to include temporary waterways – streams, tributaries, and wetlands that periodically flow and run dry with the seasons – in the Clean Water Act. Ben Cardin, D-Md.

Wednesday the Senate is scheduled to vote on a joint resolution disapproving the WOTUS release.

Specifically, Barrasso’s bill, among other things, would limit the authority of the Department of the Army or the EPA in requiring a discharge permit. The close vote was largely along party lines, with only Democratic Sens. Angus King, an independent, both voted against the measure. “The agencies’ rulemaking, grounded in science and the law, is essential to ensure clean water for future generations, and is responsive to calls for rule making from the Congress, industry, and community stakeholders as well as decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court”.

Obtaining 67 votes in highly unlikely, says Sen.

“Mr. President, regardless of whether or not the President vetoes this resolution, I will continue to oppose the EPA Clean Water Rule”.

It’s a multi-front fight.

“There is a reason that 31 states, including West Virginia, are suing to overturn the misguided rule, and two courts have already found it likely illegal”. The raw materials for sand, stone, and gravel are often located near water, and their availability could be constrained by the rule.

Republicans portrayed the Labor Department’s proposal as another federal power grab that could scare advisers away from small investors.

The League of Conservation voters said the legislation blocked Tuesday would have arbitrarily defined which waterways deserve protection without recognizing the role of headwaters and seasonal and rain-dependent waters on downstream water quality.