WASHINGTON, DC – The House Small Business Committee Chairman Sam Graves (R-MO) today released the following statement regarding the Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Advocacy’s new position that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should withdraw their Waters of the U.S. rule:

“The SBA Office of Advocacy is saying what our Committee and small businesses all across America have been saying since April – the EPA Waters of the U.S. Rule is an unnecessary regulatory overreach and will have costly economic consequences,” said Chairman Graves. “I applaud the SBA Office of Advocacy for speaking up for small businesses, putting it at odds with another agency in the Executive Branch. They are 100 percent correct in their analysis of this rule-making process – the Waters of the U.S. Rule hasn’t been properly analyzed and it was created without legitimate small business input. I continue to maintain that the EPA must withdraw this rule.”

In April, the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers proposed a rule that would redefine “waters of the United States” under the Clean Water Act. The Small Business Committee held hearings on the economic impact of this rule and the EPA rulemaking process on May 29, 2014 and July 30, 2014. In May, Graves and members of the Committee also wrote to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy and Assistant Secretary of the Army Jo-Ellen Darcy, who oversees the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, to urge withdrawal of the rule. Among their concerns, the EPA and Corps of Engineers did not adequately assess the impact of their proposed rule on small businesses and the EPA failed to conduct a Small Business Advocacy Review panel, as required by the Regulatory Flexibility Act. In September, the House passed the Waters of the United States Regulatory Overreach Protection Act (HR 5078), which would prohibit the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers from finalizing their proposed rule.

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