Joins colleagues in call for administration to halt “guidance” to dramatically expand Clean Water Act jurisdiction
Washington, DC – Congressman Brett Guthrie (KY-02) joined a bipartisan group of lawmakers in a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Army Corps of Engineers to halt “Guidance” to dramatically expand Clean Water Act jurisdiction without proper Congressional or administrative authorization.
The letter, sent to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works Jo-Ellen Darcy, expresses deep concerns that the agencies are attempting to outflank the proper regulatory process in order to push through a dramatic expansion of federal regulation under the Clean Water Act.
“Guidance” is intended to assist regulators and regulated parties in complying with established federal law, not to expand it. The effects of increasing EPA’s ability to regulate waters outside of their standing authority would have a far reaching and negative impact on farmers, job creators, property owners, and businesses nationwide.
In December 2010, EPA and the Corps sent draft “Clean Water Protection Guidance” to the Office of Management and Budget for regulatory review. By the agencies’ own admission, this “Guidance” will substantively change federal policy with respect to which waters fall under the jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act (CWA) and significantly increase the scope of the federal government’s power to regulate these waters.
“The trend in Washington is to overextend the arm of the federal government. EPA’s ‘Guidance’ joins the combined weight of health care reform, the Dodd-Frank Act, and EPA’s backdoor plan to enact cap-and-trade as yet another impediment to job creation and recovery,” Guthrie said. “This is an attempt to bypass formal rulemaking procedures and with it, the public eye; and is not merely clarifying which waters are currently subject to the Clean Water Act, but expanding EPA’s jurisdiction under it.”
Guthrie continued, “In 37 years, the Clean Water Act has drastically improved the quality of water in the United States. However, dramatically increasing the role of the federal government could produce dire consequences for Americans and our economic recovery.”
The effect of the “Guidance” will be to reverse decisions by the United States Supreme Court that recognized limits to the federal government’s regulatory authority, and to undermine the long-standing federal-state partnership in the regulation of waters. This expansion will result in confusion, permitting delays, and added costs and burdens for communities, farmers, small businesses, industries and other Americans.
Legislative proposals to expand federal regulatory authority under the Clean Water Act met with stiff bipartisan resistance in previous Congresses. Now the Administration is attempting to achieve the same objective through so-called “Guidance” without following the proper, transparent rulemaking process that is dictated by the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).
The APA sets standards for the activities and rule making of all federal regulatory agencies, and is designed to ensure those federal agencies use open, uniform, and fair procedures. The requirements of the APA are not mere formalities.
The letter signed by 170 Members of Congress, states that, “By developing this ‘Guidance,’ the Agencies have ignored calls from state agencies and environmental groups, among others, to proceed through the normal rulemaking procedures, and have avoided consulting with the States, which are the Agencies’ partners in implementing the Clean Water Act.
The letter in its entirety can be viewed here.
