The long battle over the EPA’s “waters of the United States” rule defining the upstream reach of clean-water laws will reach a milestone this week. Less than 24 hours after President Obama’s final State of the Union speech tonight, the House is expected to pass a resolution of disapproval against WOTUS. Obama is certain to prevail legislatively with a veto of the resolution. Republicans will sharpen their election-year contrast with the administration.
The Senate passed the resolution, 53-44, on Nov. 4, with less than the two-thirds majority needed to override a veto. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy tentatively set Wednesday for the House vote.
Since the Congressional Review Act became law in 1996, allowing Congress to obviate a federal regulation, only one rule has been blocked, says the Government Accountability Office. It was a 2001 Labor Department regulation on ergonomics. In most cases, resolutions of disapproval never come to a vote.
The American Farm Bureau Federation, a leading opponent of WOTUS, asked representatives to vote for the resolution on grounds that the EPA exceeded its authority with the regulation. “As a practical matter, EPA’s proposal will mean increased enforcement against farmers, greater expenses for permitting, potential delays in managing agricultural operations and unquestioned exposure of legal liability attendant with lawsuits from activists,” said the letter signed by AFBF president Bob Stallman. The farm group also has challenged the EPA’s “pollution diet” for the Chesapeake Bay.
Conservation and wildlife groups circulated a letter opposing the resolution. “This important rule clarifies Clean Water Act jurisdiction in a manner that is both legally and scientifically sound,” they wrote, noting that a U.S. appeals court has temporarily suspended WOTUS while hearing a challenge to the regulation. “The clean water rule and those who oppose it will have their day in court.”