[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 129 (Wednesday, September 10, 2014)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1379-E1380]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




WATERS OF THE UNITED STATES REGULATORY OVERREACH PROTECTION ACT OF 2014

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                               speech of

                           HON. BOB GOODLATTE

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, September 9, 2014

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the state of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 5078) to 
     preserve existing rights and responsibilities with respect to 
     waters of the United States, and for other purposes:


[[Page E1380]]


  Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Chair, I rise today in support of H.R. 5078, the 
Waters of the United States Regulatory Overreach Protection Act. In 
Virginia and the larger Chesapeake Bay watershed we have already seen 
the Environmental Protection Agency micromanaging state and local water 
decisions. The EPA's Waters of the U.S. rule expands the regulatory 
over-reach we have seen in the Bay watershed to the entire United 
States while imposing even more harmful regulations on even more small 
streams, creeks, manmade ponds, and nearby wetlands under the agency's 
control.
  Congress intended the states and federal government to implement the 
Clean Water Act as a federal-state partnership where the states and 
federal government act as co-regulators. This rule is just another 
example of EPA forgetting the Clean Water Act's goal of cooperative 
federalism. The EPA cannot re-write the Clean Water Act and expand 
their jurisdiction at a whim. Only Congress can grant that authority. 
Today's vote is an important step to rein in the EPA and protect the 
farmers, landowners, and local economies that stand to be harmed by 
this rule.
  I urge passage of this important legislation. Protecting America's 
waterways is critical, but what we need are commonsense policies that 
will protect water quality without limiting economic growth and 
unfairly over-regulating local agricultural producers and economies--
not more power grabs by the EPA.

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