Washington, DC – The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation today that reverses the erosion of states’ authority under a long-established partnership with the federal government to regulate the nation’s water quality.
This effective partnership, set forth by the Clean Water Act of 1972 (CWA), has become increasingly besieged by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as that agency has progressively undermined the states’ shared authority in order to institute a one-size-fits-all regulatory regime.
H.R. 2018, the “Clean Water Cooperative Federalism Act of 2011,” is bipartisan legislation sponsored by Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John L. Mica (R-FL), Committee Ranking Member Nick J. Rahall (D-WV), Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee Chairman Bob Gibbs (R-OH) and others.
The bill preserves the system of cooperative federalism established under the CWA in which the primary responsibilities for water pollution control are allocated to the states. The bill restricts EPA’s ability to second-guess or delay a state’s permitting and water quality certification decisions under the CWA once EPA has already approved a state’s program.
“I am pleased that H.R. 2018 has passed the House this evening, John L. Mica (R-FL), Chairman of the Transportation Committee said. “It is a measure to ensure balance between EPA, our federal regulatory body that oversees the Clean Water Act, and our states, which are responsible for implementation of the important work that ensures that we have clean water. EPA’s recent unprecedented actions have created a regulatory nightmare that affects almost every state in the union, potentially jeopardizing more than $220 billion worth of economic activity subject to the Clean Water Act Section 404 permits.
“This is a regulatory power grab creating a potential nightmare leaving projects on hold that not only have an environmental impact, but also an economic impact in the United States at a very difficult time for our economy,” Chairman Mica continued.
Rep. Bob Gibbs (R-OH), Chairman of the Water Resources Subcommittee, added, “In recent years the EPA has begun to use questionable tactics to usurp the states’ role under the Clean Water Act in setting water quality standards and to invalidate legally issued permits by the states. The agency has decided to get involved in the implementation of state standards, second-guessing states with respect to how standards are to be implemented and even second-guessing EPA’s own prior determinations that the state standards meet the minimum requirements of the Clean Water Act. HR 2018 was introduced to clarify and restore the long standing balance that has existed between the states and the EPA as co-regulators of the Clean Water Act. It reins in EPA from imposing one-size-fits-all regulations on the states, and I am pleased that the House has approved this important legislation.”
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