Press Releases

Gosar Condemns EPA Water-Grab Proposal

Today, U.S. Congressman Paul A. Gosar, D.D.S. (AZ-04) issued the following statement after joining 230 of his colleagues in sending a letter to Gina McCarthy, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and John M. McHugh, Secretary of the Department of the Army, urging them to withdraw a scientifically and economically flawed rule that would expand the federal government's role under the Clean Water Act:

"The EPA has no legal authority to expand the definition of navigable waters under the Clean Water Act, as the Supreme Court has repeatedly made clear. Only Congress has such authority. The EPA is once again overreaching and attempting to seize control of more of our resources - in this case water - by attempting to expand the definition of navigable waters to include things like intrastate waters, farm and stock ponds, prior converted crop lands, prairie potholes and trenches that contain rainwater. This proposed water grab runs contrary to state water law and existing compacts and would have devastating economic consequences for farmers, ranchers, small businesses and water users in Arizona and throughout the country.

"Central Arizona Project is concerned that the proposal could include the CAP aqueduct system, potentially affecting water delivery to over 80 percent of the state’s population and one-third of Arizona’s economy. Arizonans can't afford more economic hurdles and extortions of precious water supplies from an overzealous federal government.  I demand that Administer McCarthy and Secretary McHugh immediately withdraw this significantly flawed and overreaching regulatory proposal that will result in a federal takeover of state waters.”

Kevin Rogers, President of the Arizona Farm Bureau, said, "Puddles, ponds, ditches and water tanks have no business being reclassified as navigable as proposed under the new EPA rule. Congress, not the EPA,  makes the laws. The Clean Water Act has been very clear on what navigable is and our farm ditches and ponds are not!  We thank Congressman Gosar for asking EPA to Ditch The Rule!"

Click HERE to view the letter.

BACKGROUND:
On March 25, 2014, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) released a proposed rule that would assert Clean Water Act (CWA) jurisdiction over nearly all areas with any hydrologic connection to downstream navigable waters, including man-made conveyances such as ditches.  Contrary to claims made by the EPA and USACE, this would directly contradict prior U.S. Supreme Court decisions, which imposed limits on the extent of federal CWA authority.  Although the agencies have maintained that the rule is narrow and clarifies CWA jurisdiction, it in fact aggressively expands federal authority under the CWA while bypassing Congress and creating unnecessary ambiguity.  Moreover, the rule is based on incomplete scientific and economic analyses.

The American Farm Bureau, the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council, the Western Governors’ Association and other water users throughout the country all have significant concerns about this overreaching proposed rule.

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