Pressure Mounts Against EPA, Waters Rule

With fewer than 10 days left before the controversial Clean Water Rule takes effect, pressure mounts for the Environmental Protection Agency to rescind the rule.

On July 30, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform released more than 50 pages of documents in which the Army Corps of Engineers—EPA’s partner in writing the rule—rebuked agency officials for their abuse of the rulemaking process. The economic analysis used to support the rule, Army Corps officials wrote, had no basis in either science or economics.

In a May 15 internal memo, the Corps wrote: “Corps data to EPA has been selectively applied out of context, and mixes terminology and disparate data sets. In the Corps’ judgment, these documents contain numerous inappropriate assumptions with no connection to the data provided, misapplied data, analytical deficiencies and logical inconsistencies.”

The documents also uphold concerns from critics that the rule, formerly known as Waters of the U.S., or WOTUS, applies to landscape features beyond what a reasonable person would consider a waterway.

The National Corn Growers Association has demanded the EPA postpone the August 28 implementation of the rule and applauded congressional efforts to rescind it.

Chris Koster, Attorney General of Missouri, has filed a preliminary injunction to block implementation of the new rule. Missouri is among more than a dozen states that filed suit against the rule, alleging it overreached, was too restrictive and would harm private land owners, especially farmers.

Koster is asking the federal district court to “preserve the status quo while the case is pending.”   S