Republican senators chimed in Wednesday on the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposal to formally withdraw the Obama administration’s Waters of the U.S. rule that expanded its federal clean water jurisdiction to include everything from drainage ditches to rivers.
The GOP letter was sent to EPA chief Scott Pruitt on the last day to submit public comment on the Trump administration’s proposal to scale back the rule, which President Trump ordered under one of his first executive orders as commander in chief.
“The courts have been clear that a federal agency may not exceed the statutory authority granted to it by Congress,” the senators wrote, adding that Congress never granted EPA the authority to regulate in many of the areas covered under the 2015 WOTUS rule.
Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wy., chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, led 10 senators on the letter, which included former committee chairman Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma.
The senators included: Sens. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, John Boozman of Arkansas, Roger Wicker of Mississippi, Deb Fischer of Nebraska, Jerry Moran of Kansas, Mike Rounds of South Dakota, Joni Ernst of Iowa, Dan Sullivan of Arkansas, and Richard Shelby of Alabama.
The letter was sent to Pruitt and Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army Douglas Lamont, as EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers both hold jurisdiction over the rule. The letter supports the proposed withdrawal of the Waters of the U.S. rule, underscoring evidence that the Army was shut out of the rule’s development.
The senators want the 2015 rule withdrawn and a new rule issued that does not aggressively seek to expand federal enforcement jurisdiction and is scientifically sound.
“We urge EPA and the Corps to develop a replacement WOTUS rule as soon as possible,” the letter said. “The definition of waters of the United States has been the subject of many years of litigation, which could be brought to rest by a scientifically sound WOTUS rule that respects the intent of Congress.”
Pruitt told the Washington Examiner earlier this month that he anticipates a new rule to be issued sometime early next year.
The rule has been used by the GOP as an example of the type of federal overreach indicative of the EPA under the previous administration. Farmers, ranchers, housing developers, electric utilities, oil companies, and natural gas drillers, in addition to states, have come out in opposition to the regulation.
