Lucas, Bucshon, Womack applaud end of federal overreach on U.S. bodies of water

U.S. Reps. Frank Lucas (R-OK), Larry Bucshon (R-IN), and Steve Womack (R-AR) praised the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of the Army for replacing the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule with one that ends federal overreach.

Rep. Lucas said the new Navigable Waters Protection Rule will continue to protect the nation’s waterways from pollution and deterioration, “will provide clarity to the EPA’s regulatory framework and will dramatically reduce overburdensome regulation currently felt by farmers, ranchers, small business owners, and landowners.”

The Navigable Waters Protection Rule identifies four categories of federally regulated waters under the Clean Water Act, according to the EPA and Army, and details what waters are not subject to federal control.

The previous WOTUS rule had expanded the federal government’s role under the Clean Water Act from navigable and interstate waters to incorporate ditches, ponds and streams, said Rep. Lucas.

“At a time when the federal government should have been cutting burdensome red tape, the Obama administration instead tied the hands of our nation’s farmers and landowners and subjected them to unprecedented federal overreach and divisive litigation,” the lawmaker said.

“Localities are best equipped to manage the water and land within its borders — and this new directive rightfully reverses a power grab by Washington bureaucrats under the previous administration,” Rep. Womack agreed.

Rep. Bucshon added that “the clarification that their farm ditches will no longer be regulated by the federal government as navigable waters is a commonsense change that provides ag producers certainty and ensures a proper balance exists between the federal government and a state’s right to protect their own water resources.”

“The new rule removes confusion and uncertainty about where federal jurisdiction ends and where state authority begins,” said Rep. Bucshon. “I applaud the Trump administration for keeping yet another promise they made to the American people.”

Rep. Womack, who said he’s fought diligently against the misguided WOTUS rule, also thanked the Trump administration “for taking decisive action and implementing a balanced approach.”