Arizona congressmen David Schweikert, and Paul Gosar joined House colleagues in a letter to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy and Department of the Army Secretary John McHugh asking the proposed draft rule defining ‘waters of the United States’ be withdrawn and returned for further analysis, revision.
On March 25, 2014, the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) released a proposed rule that would assert Clean Water Act (CWA) jurisdiction over nearly all areas with any hydrologic connection to downstream navigable waters, including man-made conveyances such as ditches. Contrary to claims made by the EPA and USACE, this would directly contradict prior U.S. Supreme Court decisions, which imposed limits on the extent of federal CWA authority.
Although the agencies have maintained that the rule is narrow and clarifies CWA jurisdiction, it in fact aggressively expands federal authority under the CWA while bypassing Congress and creating unnecessary ambiguity, according to critics. Moreover, opponents say the rule is based on incomplete scientific and economic analyses.
The American Farm Bureau, the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council, the Western Governors’ Association and other water users throughout the country all have significant concerns about this overreaching proposed rule, according to Arizona Congressman Paul Gosar.
Schweikert is the author of the Secret Science Reform Act. H.R. 4012 prohibits the EPA from proposing regulations based on science that is not transparent or reproducible.
“It is deeply troubling to know that this expansion in overreach by the EPA has been proposed without the independent analysis of the data and science behind the drafted rule,” said Schweikert. “Administrator McCarthy and Secretary McHugh need to address the legal, economic, and scientific deficiencies of the proposal before moving forward.”
“Although your agencies have maintained that the rule is narrow and clarifies Clean Water Act (CWA) jurisdiction, it in fact aggressively expands federal authority under the CWA while bypassing Congress and creating unnecessary ambiguity,” the letter reads. “Moreover, the rule is based on incomplete scientific and economic analysis.”
“Compounding both the ambiguity of the rule and the highly questionable economic analysis, the scientific report — which the agencies point to as the foundation of this rule—has been neither peer-reviewed nor finalized,” the letter continues. “The science should always come before a rulemaking, especially in this instance where the scientific and legal concepts are inextricably linked.”
Congressman Paul Gosar said, “The EPA has no legal authority to expand the definition of navigable waters under the Clean Water Act, as the Supreme Court has repeatedly made clear. Only Congress has such authority. The EPA is once again overreaching and attempting to seize control of more of our resources – in this case water – by attempting to expand the definition of navigable waters to include things like intrastate waters, farm and stock ponds, prior converted crop lands, prairie potholes and trenches that contain rainwater. This proposed water grab runs contrary to state water law and existing compacts and would have devastating economic consequences for farmers, ranchers, small businesses and water users in Arizona and throughout the country.
“Central Arizona Project is concerned that the proposal could include the CAP aqueduct system, potentially affecting water delivery to over 80 percent of the state’s population and one-third of Arizona’s economy. Arizonans can’t afford more economic hurdles and extortions of precious water supplies from an overzealous federal government. I demand that Administer McCarthy and Secretary McHugh immediately withdraw this significantly flawed and overreaching regulatory proposal that will result in a federal takeover of state waters,” concluded Gosar.
Western Congressional Caucus Co-Chair Steve Pierce said, “The scientific process requires the publication of data for all to see and the EPA should not expect American citizens to blindly take their word for it. It should be mandatory that the EPA be transparent with the science they use to implement regulations that have such significant economic impacts. “The American taxpayers whose livelihoods are affected by the EPA’s devastating economic regulations deserve an opportunity to examine the science being used to deny them jobs.”
Kevin Rogers, President of the Arizona Farm Bureau, said, “Puddles, ponds, ditches and water tanks have no business being reclassified as navigable as proposed under the new EPA rule. Congress, not the EPA, makes the laws. The Clean Water Act has been very clear on what navigable is and our farm ditches and ponds are not! We thank Congressman Gosar for asking EPA to Ditch The Rule!”