Rep. Charles Boustany Jr. (R-La.) joined fellow lawmakers on Monday in asking the House Committee on Appropriations to deny funding for any action that can be used to change the definition of waters under the Clean Water Act.
Boustany and 90 other members of the House sent a letter to Chairman Hal Rogers and Ranking Member Nita Lowey of the Appropriations Committee, claiming the Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have gone too far in their attempt to redefine “waters of the United States” in a draft rule issued in March.
“The EPA’s blatant power grab under the purported authority of the Clean Water Act must be stopped,” Boustany said. “Louisiana farmers would be subject to regulation of puddles and farm ponds if this rule were to be allowed, something the original law was never intended to regulate. My colleagues and I won’t allow the EPA backdoor authority to hurt this industry. I urge the House Appropriations Committee to insert language into whatever funding measure the House considers before the end of the year that protects Louisiana agriculture from the administration’s environmentalist agenda.”
The letter asks that language used in the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2015 – which included prohibitions on funding for implementing the rule – be used in any funding measure the House considers this year.