Press Releases

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Ranking Member Sam Graves (R-MO) and Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment Ranking Member Bruce Westerman (R-AR) today commended President Trump for his administration’s action to repeal the Obama Administration’s WOTUS rule and massive expansion of federal control over the rights of farmers, small businesses, communities, and private citizens across the country.

“The Obama Administration’s WOTUS rule was never about ensuring water quality – it was about the federal government trying to grab as much control as it could over the lives of Americans everywhere.  It was a blatant overreach of the federal government, and I was appalled that farmers, small businesses, and many others were forced to comply with such far-reaching and burdensome regulations put in place by unelected bureaucrats,” said Graves.  “I commend the Trump Administration for keeping its promise to eliminate that rule and for working to provide a more certain, flexible, and realistic framework to ensure we have a healthy environment and a robust economy.”

“WOTUS has always been an inefficient and unclear set of government regulations that didn’t improve water quality,” said Westerman.  “The vague definition has caused confusion among farmers about what actually fell under its parameters, and it added even more red tape to the regulatory process.  I’m glad to see that the EPA is clarifying and reining in the broad overreach of these regulations and restoring the federal-state partnership that Congress originally intended under the Clean Water Act. These measures will provide much-needed clarity.”