EPA’s as bad as the British pre-1776, Mississippi governor tells Columbus conference

The governor of Mississippi brought some Southern angst against the federal government to Columbus.

Gov. Phil Bryant said a proposed U.S. EPA water rule is akin to the British's ability to search homes in the colonial era without warrants, a tactic that in part led to the American Revolution.

"These are frightening things that are going on," Bryant said.

Bryant spoke in general about states' rights to regulate their own energy and specifically about the Waters of the United States rule, for which the EPA recently extended public comments for the second time.

It's a controversial rule; more than 218,000 comments have been filed, and the EPA even has a Ditch the Myth website to combat what it says are false claims on the proposal, including that puddles and ponds will be regulated.

At issue is a portion of the Clean Water Act. The EPA says it wants to clarify which types of water bodies qualify for protection under the act. Others say it's even more confusing now and farmers especially are concerned that ponds, streams and whatever else might sit on their land could be federally regulated.

Bryant chairs the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, a group made up of regulators in oil and gas states who advise governors. During his address at the group's Columbus meeting Tuesday, he painted a picture of federal employees showing up in backyards without notice, inspecting ponds. (He was exaggerating a bit, he said.)

"This is every pond, every lake, every stream in America," he said. Part of the problem that led to the Revolutionary War was that the English could similarly search properties, he said.