The U.S. House voted to repeal, on a largely symbolic 227-198 vote, the EPA’s controversial ‘Waters of the U.S.” or WOTUS rule. The Senate could follow suit as soon as this week.
Democrats argued clean water is a human right that will suffer with the GOP move that nine Democrats backed to repeal the Biden EPA’s WOTUS rule. Washington State’s Rick Larsen; “House Democrats believe we can protect clean water while providing certainty to businesses, to farmers, and to Americans who depend upon clean water for their lives and livelihoods.”
But Republicans like Ag Chair GT Thompson dismissed that argument; “This rule isn’t about clean water. It’s about the Biden EPA’s appetite for power. America’s farmers, ranchers, and landowners deserve a WOTUS definition that is fair to agriculture and maintains the historical reach of the Clean Water Act—neither of which is accomplished by the Biden Administration’s flawed rule.”
Which undid the Trump Navigable Waters Protection Rule and caused farmers like California Rep. John Duarte to fear more prosecutions like that under the earlier Obama rule.
Duarte; “They prosecuted me as a farmer for farming wheat in a wheat field which had been farmed many, many times before, and threatened to fine me 28 to 40 million dollars for tilling through 22 acres of wetlands such as this, across a 450-acre wheat field. This is what we’re talking about.”
It’s enough, declared Missouri’s Eric Burlison; “Farmers have been hit hard with fuel costs, fertilizer costs, and supply chain challenges recently. The last thing they need is this. The EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers should rescind this rule and leave our farmers alone!”
Senate Republicans claim to have the votes to pass the same WOTUS repeal resolution, though Biden says he’ll veto it.
