Press Releases

On March 8, 2022, Congressman Jason Smith joined 202 of his colleagues in a letter urging President Biden to halt his plan to widen the scope of the “Waters of the United States” (WOTUS) rule.

“If this expansive rule is adopted, farmers and landowners will be at the mercy of Washington bureaucrats to do anything on their property,” said Congressman Jason Smith. “Unfortunately, the Americans most affected by this rule are being kept in the dark about impacts from this rule that significantly affect their livelihood. The rush to broaden the definition of a navigable waterway simply to satisfy President Biden’s radical, wealthy environmentalist base will cause confusion, waste hard-earned taxpayer dollars, and delay efforts to improve infrastructure and protect clean water.”

Rep. Smith has a long history of opposing an expansive definition of the Waters of the United States. That’s why, during the Trump Administration, he brought EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler to Southeast Missouri. In a meeting with stakeholders, Administrator Wheeler was able to hear firsthand the impacts of President Obama’s disastrous WOTUS rule. That feedback was used to craft the Trump Administration’s Navigable Waters Protection Rule which brought the necessary certainty stakeholders had been seeking. Unfortunately, the Biden Administration is now seeking to reverse those gains.

The Biden Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers are moving forward with this intrusive expansion of the WOTUS rule despite Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency, a pending Supreme Court case that could significantly change how agencies make their rules. Unpredictability has loomed over the scope of federal authority of our nation’s navigable waterways for decades. The Biden Administration’s plan to change the definition of WOTUS will be the sixth rule change in ten years.

In the letter, the members state, “Any further rulemaking prior to the Supreme Court’s decision will jeopardize Americans’ best interests and fail to ensure our communities will not be subject to further uncertainty and government overreach.”

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