[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 4]
[House]
[Pages 5661-5662]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      WATERS OF THE UNITED STATES

  (Mr. LaMALFA asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. LaMALFA. Mr. Speaker, the Environmental Protection Agency and the 
Army Corps of Engineers has proposed under waterways of the United 
States rules that the EPA claims jurisdiction not just over nearly 
every navigable waterway, but virtually every body of water in the 
Nation, no matter how large or how small.
  Using a creative interpretation of a 40-year-old law, the EPA argues 
that it holds jurisdiction over any activities that could conceivably 
impact not just navigable waters, but any waterway that eventually 
flows into a river, even a waterway or wetland, which is simply near a 
navigable waterway.
  Furthermore, the EPA doesn't stop at claiming control over water. It 
also claims control over any activity that could impact those waters in 
any way. This rule drastically limits private property rights by 
inserting the Federal Government into local land use decisions.
  The rule would also expand EPA's authority from rivers, bays, and 
wetlands into manmade waterways like storm drains, drain ditches, farm 
ponds--unconnected in any way to a waterway--and even puddles. That's 
right, puddles.

[[Page 5662]]

  EPA's first draft of that rule specifically exempted puddles. 
Tellingly, the final draft does not exempt them anymore.
  Mr. Speaker, enough is enough. It is time to put an end to the 
government overreach and defund these efforts in the appropriations 
process and ensure that only America's elected representative make the 
laws that govern the Nation.

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