November 13, 2015

President Obama's EPA 'overreaching' water rules will jeopardize state economy | Preston County News and Journal

It’s no secret here in West Virginia that regulations being imposed by the Obama Administration are slamming our state’s coal industry and our coal mining jobs. But now, it is not just the mining jobs that the EPA is attacking. The agency is overreaching with a new water rule that will jeopardize virtually every sector and the local economies across the Mountain State. Thankfully, the Senate voted to roll back these dangerous regulations.

Each and every West Virginian wants to drink clean water and breathe clean air, but we can achieve this without regulating our hard-working people out of business. If the ‘Waters of the United States’ rule, known commonly as WOTUS, is enforced as it is currently written, heavy financial penalties would be imposed on all of us, including our local governments, small business owners, farmers, manufacturers and property owners. New permitting and regulatory requirements could also lead to regulation of a huge number of economic activities that are important to the people of West Virginia and the people of Preston County, including highway and road construction, pipeline projects, transmission line projects, farming, flood control, housing construction and public works projects. This rule will place a significant burden on West Virginia’s economy, hindering businesses, manufacturing, housing and energy production. Too many folks in our state are already struggling to make ends meet. This new financial and regulatory burden will set them up for failure in an already unstable economic climate, which in large part is caused by other harmful regulations the EPA and the Obama administration have established.

The bottom line is that it is completely ridiculous that West Virginia’s ditches, puddles and other un-navigable waters will be subjected to the same regulations as our greatest lakes and rivers. The EPA says it will exempt ditches, but only if a local government can prove that no part of the ditch is located in an area where there ever used to be a stream. The EPA also says it will exempt storm water management systems, but only if they were built on dry land. And the EPA says it can rely on historical maps and historic aerial photographs to determine where streams used to be, not where they are now.

These provisions of the WOTUS rule should especially strike terror into the heart of every mayor, county commissioner and manager of a city that was founded before the last century. With a sweep of the pen, the EPA is trying to take us back to the days of Lewis and Clark. According to a memo written in April, not even the Army Corps of Engineers knows how it will determine which ditches are exempt and which are former streams. Morgantown, West Virginia was founded in 1785. Wheeling, West Virginia, was established in 1795. To go back in time to determine where “streams” used to be would be near impossible and is not something West Virginians should be burdened with.

The EPA alleges that the rule would simply implement Supreme Court instructions to clarify the Clean Water Act jurisdiction over bodies of water in the U.S., but this proposal goes too far. In fact, the Supreme Court has already ruled that not all bodies of water fall under Clean Water Act regulation. So my question is this: Why is the EPA expanding it now?

It is truly disappointing that the EPA wrote and finalized this rule without consulting the people who care about clean water the most and those who will be most impacted. The EPA has made many claims that turn out to be untrue. The EPA says they were not required to consult with local governments under Federalism Executive Order — arguing that the rule did not impact them. The EPA argues that even though it did not comply with the Executive Order, it still reached out to local governments. The EPA alleges that it addressed the concerns of local governments by providing exemptions for public safety ditches and storm water control systems. None of these claims hold water.

That is why I am a cosponsor of the Federal Water Quality Protection Act. This bipartisan legislation would send the EPA back to the drawing board to develop a new rule after conducting proper consultation with states, local governments and small businesses that will be directly affected by the rule. Although this bill did not have the votes needed to move ahead, we are committed to getting the EPA water rule scrapped through whatever means necessary. As a result, the Senate quickly turned to a resolution of disapproval to nullify the rule. And I will keep pushing for the rule to be withdrawn and rewritten.

The EPA and Army Corps of Engineers can and must do better to address the legitimate issues that have been raised in regard to the implementation of this rule.