U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster (R-PA) and U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) filed a joint statement Wednesday criticizing the Obama administration’s proposed expansion of the Clean Water Act — boosting federal authority over lakes, rivers and other bodies of water — warning that the changes could negatively affect local communities nationwide.
Shuster, chairman of the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure committee, said, “It is clear after today’s testimony from the Obama administration and state and local leaders that we need to ditch the proposed Waters of the U.S. rule. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy admitted the rule is flawed by repeatedly committing to fix the proposal when members of Congress raised serious concerns about how it would impact their constituents, communities and local industries.”
Together, Shuster and Inhofe, chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, said McCarthy admitted several inconsistencies in the new rule. Undermining her own statements and pledges, she plans to go ahead and issue a formal final rule by spring. “If the rule is flawed, it should be withdrawn; small changes will not be sufficient,” the statement said.
“We will continue to conduct oversight over the EPA and work together toward legislation to prevent this flawed rule from being finalized. We need to ensure that the administration follows through on its word to make necessary and significant changes to the rule in response to the concerns of the states and local governments, and the more than 1 million comments filed by the public.”
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