By Todd Neeley
DTN Staff Reporter
OMAHA (DTN) -- The U.S. Senate on Tuesday took its best shot at turning back the waters of the United States rule only to come up short in a key procedural vote that blocked debate on a bill that would have forced the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to start from scratch on the clean-water rule.
The cloture vote needed 60 senators to pass, but ended up 57-41 in favor. Prior to the vote, the White House Office of Management and Budget promised the president would veto the bill. The waters of the United States rule is on hold after a federal court issued a stay on the law as a result of ongoing lawsuits filed by 31 states.
Following the cloture vote, the Senate voted to end debate on a resolution of disapproval for the rule, introduced by Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa. The Senate set aside 10 hours of debate Tuesday, meaning a vote on the resolution likely will take place Wednesday. The resolution would allow Congress to review the rule and could lead to it being overturned.
Agricultural and many other industries across the country oppose the rule for fear it will expand the EPA’s regulatory reach to waters they contend never were before considered to be jurisdictional. Farmers are concerned the rule will require them to obtain Clean Water Act permits to conduct work on their farms previously exempt from the law.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said during debate leading up to a cloture vote that the waters of the United States rule will make life harder on the farm.
“Want to build a barn on land you own?” he said. “Good luck with that. This certainly wasn’t a process that involved stakeholders. We should appropriately consult with those affected.”
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, said the Senate is wasting valuable legislative time by voting on bills the president will veto.
“This legislation will fail, of course, and Republicans know it,” he said. “If these bills are to pass, the president will veto them. This is another in a series of attacks on the environment.”
Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said the bill that provides Clean Water Act exemptions to farmers and other industries is a pollution bill and not a protection bill.
“The Obama administration has written a rule that protects puddles?” she said. “That is nonsense. We’re going to have a situation where there’s more chaos. It will lead to confusion for business owners and landowners. It would invite years of new litigation.”
Though stakeholders in agriculture and other sectors have said their concerns and input were ignored in the final rule, Boxer said EPA’s outreach on the rule was “robust,” pointing to some 400 outreach meetings in 200 days.
Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., said he believes the courts ultimately will strike down the rule, no matter what Congress decides to do.
“The waters of the United States rule is not just another example of government overreach,” Inhofe said. “This rule is illegal. It’s not supported by science,” he said, calling the rule a “political power grab.”
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., said the Senate bill, which had the support of a handful of Democrats, is not a partisan issue. Manchin said the EPA rule was a property-rights issue.
“If you have any property whatsoever, this affects you,” he said. “There’s nobody I know who doesn’t want clean drinking water. This affects everybody. I’ve got farmers right now that are concerned about the crops they grow. The Supreme Court already has ruled not all water bodies fall under jurisdiction.
“With a sweep of the pen, the EPA is trying to take us back to the days of Lewis and Clark.”
THE BILL
The bill would have required consultation with state and local officials before agencies could redefine the waters of the United States, something many stakeholders contend was inadequate. Consultation would include defining states’ roles in identifying waters subject to federal jurisdiction.
The bill excluded EPA from incorporating tiling or sheet-flow water drainage in any definition of “surface hydrologic connection.” The movement of water through soil, subsurface tiles or groundwater aquifers would be exempt.
The measure would have exempted any water below ground, as well as isolated ponds including farm ponds, fish ponds, quarries, mine pits, swimming pools, ornamental ponds, fire control or sediment ponds, or any other isolated system holding water. Agriculture storm water or return flows from irrigation also would have been exempt in the legislation.
The American Farm Bureau Federation, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, the Public Lands Council and others have endorsed the legislation led by Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo. Leading up to the Senate debate, Barrasso posted a seven-page document listing those industry groups and others supporting the bill, http://tinyurl.com/….
Philip Ellis, NCBA president and a cattleman from Chugwater, Wyo., said in a press release Tuesday that the legislation was the “best option” for ensuring the rights of producers.
“The WOTUS rule is the most burdensome and far-reaching piece of regulation we have ever seen, touching almost every producer and leaving a path of regulatory uncertainty,” Ellis said. “While cattlemen and women continue in litigation with the agencies over this regulation, the Senate has the opportunity to step in and withdraw this disastrous rule. Action by the Senate now will save cattle producers and states millions of dollars in legal fees and years in litigation.”
Chuck Conner, president and chief executive officer of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, said in a statement the bill would have provided clarity.
“The recent redefinition of what constitutes a WOTUS goes far beyond what Congress intended in passing the Clean Water Act and expands EPA regulatory jurisdiction in an unprecedented way,” he said. “The fact that the Sixth Circuit Court has enjoined enforcement of the rules shows that there are major problems with what EPA and the Corps produced and that Congress should provide additional direction to the agencies to fix it.”
Todd Neeley can be reached at todd.neeley@dtn.com
Follow him on Twitter @ToddNeeleyDTN
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