Press Releases

Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-PA) and Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee Chairman Garret Graves (R-LA) released the following statements regarding today's proposal by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to rescind the Obama Administration's flawed Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule, and to commence a new rulemaking to better clarify the definition of "waters of the United States":

Shuster: "I commend President Trump and the agencies for moving forward with a repeal of an extremely flawed WOTUS rule. The Obama Administration's overreaching and ambiguous WOTUS rule is simply an expansion of federal power that threatens to add unnecessary burdens on states and local governments, America's farmers, manufacturers, businesses, and communities, and property owners across the entire country. We look forward to the EPA and the Corps working in a more collaborative and practical manner to develop a rule that ensures clean water for the Nation, provides needed clarity, takes into account the input of states and local governments, and doesn't trample the rights of the American people."

Graves: "The Obama Administration's Waters of the U.S. rule is an egregious jurisdictional overstep that wrongly infringes upon the rights of private property owners, cripples small business owners, and threatens to all but halt economic development projects across the country, particularly in places like South Louisiana. I applaud President Trump for his willingness to bring this rule back to the drawing board and to do it the right way – openly, with input from the most important stakeholder group: the American people."

Last Congress, during the Obama Administration, the House supported bipartisan legislation to require a withdrawal of the WOTUS rule and send the agencies back to engage in outreach to stakeholders, including the states and local governments, and more fully consider all potential impacts before putting forward a new proposed rule.

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