– During today's House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee markup on the Democrats' $3.5 trillion tax and spend legislation, Congressman David Rouzer (R-NC) proposed an amendment to extend the Biden Administration's brief public comment period and meetings on their plans to rewrite the federal rule defining "Waters of the United States" (WOTUS) under the Clean Water Act.
This amendment, prompted by the Biden Administration’s announcement that it would be repealing and replacing the Trump Administration’s Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule; ensures that feedback from impacted individuals and stakeholders is captured by requiring the Biden Administration to re-open and extend by 60 days its stakeholder comment period, which closed on September 3, 2021.
Further, it directs the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Army Corps of Engineers (“the Agencies”) to conduct a study of the economic burdens to stakeholders of a project involving a water of the U.S. by studying the costs to applicants of permit issuance and compliance under Clean Water Act (CWA) Sections 402 and 404.
“The Biden Administration has made it abundantly clear that they have no desire to listen to the needs of our local communities, businesses, and farmers when it comes to rewriting the definition of navigable waters under the WOTUS rule,”said Rep. Rouzer.“They opened a comment period on August 4 shortly after the announcement of their intent to change the rule. That comment period, on something as important and impactful as the change of the WOTUS definition, has already ended. It is unacceptable that Democrats have refused to allow the American people an adequate amount of time to voice their concerns regarding new and potentially excessive government regulations that will have a profound, long-term impact on their everyday lives.”
Background:
On June 9, 2021, the Agencies announced that they would begin the process of replacing the previous “2020 Navigable Water Protection Rule” (NWPR) with a revised definition of WOTUS.
On August 4, 2021, the Agencies announced the first step in that process, which would be a series of public meetings in August and a 30-day comment period for a series of questions posed to the regulated industry. The short 30-day comment period provided by the Agencies was grossly inadequate for the public to provide input.
On August 26, 2021, Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Ranking Member Sam Graves (R-MO) and Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee Ranking Member David Rouzer (R-NC) requested that the Biden Administration provide the public and the numerous impacted stakeholders a reasonable amount of time to provide input into the Administration’s plans to rewrite WOTUS.
