Southerland Bill Prevents EPA Overregulation of America’s Waters

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Rep. Steve Southerland, II introduced bipartisan legislation today to prohibit the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers from expanding their regulatory authority to almost any body of water in America, including ditches, pipes, watersheds, and farmland ponds. Southerland’s bill, the Waters of the United States Regulatory Overreach Protection Act (H.R. 5078), would stop this unprecedented federal power grab and uphold the balanced, federal-state partnership that has historically regulated the nation’s waters.

“This bipartisan legislation provides a safeguard against the federal government’s overreach into regulatory decisions best made by officials at the state and local levels,” said Southerland. “By getting Washington out of the way, we’re also providing our farmers, manufacturers, transportation builders, and construction industries with the certainty they need to grow America’s economy, free from new regulatory burdens imposed by the EPA and other D.C. bureaucrats.”

For more than four decades, regulation of pollution and water quality for the nation’s waters has been achieved through a productive partnership between state governments and the federal government. This relationship, established under the Clean Water Act (CWA), has led to significantly less pollution and cleaner water for the country. However, the Obama Administration has sought to “clarify” the scope of federal jurisdiction under the CWA in a manner that would upset this balanced regulatory approach and expand the federal government’s power. H.R. 5078 addresses what is yet another example of a disturbing pattern of an imperial presidency that seeks to use brute force and executive action while ignoring Congress.