EPA water rule is a massive land grab

The EPA introduced the rule under a new name, the “Clean Water Rule.” But cosmetic updates cannot hide the fact that it’s still a massive power grab of private property. 

Texas farmers, landowners and small businesses have reacted with concern, and rightfully so. The rule expands the EPA’s jurisdiction, giving the agency the power to restrict Americans from making decisions about their own property.

The EPA has claimed the rule is intended to define which bodies of water can be regulated by the Clean Water Act. But the rule is written so broadly it could allow the EPA to regulate virtually every body of water in the United States, including private and public lakes, ponds and streams. 

It attempts to give the federal government regulatory power over virtually all natural and man-made water sources in the United States. 

Last summer, I exposed shockingly detailed maps the EPA commissioned at about the same time it began pursuing its new water rule. The agency tried to keep these maps hidden from the public and denied that the maps have anything to do with Waters of the U.S. rule. 

But why would the EPA go to such great lengths to create these extensive maps if it doesn’t intend to use them for regulatory purposes?

When Congress enacted the Clean Water Act, it was supposed to be about water, not land. According to the EPA, 59 percent of the “streams” they could choose to regulate under the proposed rule aren’t always wet. These are places that often become wet only after a rainstorm, and in some cases are so tiny or temporary that they don’t even appear on maps.

The EPA’s website says that these areas could include “a drizzle of snowmelt that runs down a mountainside crease, a small spring-fed pond, or a depression in the ground that fills with water after every rain and overflows into the creek below.”

As chairman of the House Science Committee, I have held hearings and sent several letters to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy questioning the agency’s rushed process and lack of transparency in pushing the WOTUS rule on the American people. 

More than 30 governors and state legislators across the country also have voiced their concerns about the threats to Americans’ freedom and opportunity posed by this regulatory overreach. 

I also recently voted for House passage of the Regulatory Integrity Protection Act, which would stop the EPA from moving forward with the Waters of the U.S. rule and require the agency to seek out adequate stakeholder input before proposing any new rule.

More than 200 local residents recently joined me for a regulation roundtable discussion in Kerrville focused on reining in the EPA’s overreach on rules like Waters of the U.S. 

And others have spoken out in opposition to the Waters of the U.S., including: the Texas Farm Bureau, the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, the Texas arm of the National Federation of Independent Business, Governor Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton. 

The Obama administration is counting on the fact that the average American isn’t paying attention as it pursues this aggressive regulatory agenda. But in Texas, we are watching. 

The EPA’s recently proposed water rule could be the largest expansion of power by the federal government in our nation’s history. I will continue to fight this overreaching policy so that we can make our government more efficient, effective and accountable to the American people.

Congressman Lamar Smith chairs the Science, Space, and Technology Committee.

http://www.boernestar.com/opinion/columnists/article_9d4264ae-110b-11e5-8c1c-d7a998bf7095.html