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Today, U.S. Congressman Paul A. Gosar, D.D.S. (AZ-04) released the following statement after a federal appeals court issued a nationwide stay blocking the implementation of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rule resulting from a lawsuit filed by 13 states, including the state of Arizona:
“As federal courts around the country continue to limit the Obama Administration’s lawless, overreaching regulations, the bureaucratic minions forcing these policies down our throats should take notice. No president or D.C. bureaucrat is above our Constitution. For the good of our country, I pray that this misguided effort to illegally push an ideologically-driven agenda, will continue to be thwarted by our judicial system. Furthermore, those who are knowingly violating the law to impose job-killing regulations by executive fiat should be held accountable. Today’s decision is another massive blow to an administration that continues to run roughshod over the rule of law and disregard our nation’s system of checks and balances.
“WOTUS is a job-killing, overreaching new regulation that would be a dream killer for future generations and result in significant job losses as well as considerable harm to our economy. This terribly flawed Washington mandate contradicts prior Supreme Court decisions and seeks to expand agency control over 60% of our country’s streams as well as millions of acres of wetlands that were previously non-jurisdictional. The fight to stop this regulation will not be easy, but I am committed to protecting the American people from this blatant executive water grab and will continue to fight this overreach at every opportunity.”
Background:
From the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit: “A stay allows for a more deliberate determination whether this exercise of Executive power, enabled by Congress and explicated by the Supreme Court, is proper under the dictates of federal law.”
On March 25, 2014, the EPA and the Corps released a proposed rule that would assert Clean Water Act jurisdiction over nearly all areas with even the slightest of connections to water resources, including man-made conveyances.
On May 1, 2014, Congressman Gosar and 230 of his colleagues sent a letter to Gina McCarthy, Administrator of the EPA, and John M. McHugh, Secretary of the Army, urging them to withdraw the proposed rule. The full text of that letter can be found HERE.
On January 28, 2015, Congressman Gosar introduced H.R. 594, the Waters of the United States Regulatory Overreach Protection Act. This legislation has the support of 185 bipartisan cosponsors. Click HERE to read more about the Waters of the United States Regulatory Overreach Protection Act.
On May 12, 2015, the House passed H.R. 1732, the Regulatory Integrity Protection Act, by a vote of 261-155. This critical legislation requires the EPA and Corps of Engineers to formally withdraw the agencies’ proposed rule that would redefine WOTUS and any subsequent final rule. Congressman Gosar joined the Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Bill Shuster in introducing this bill. Click HERE to read more.
Congressman Gosar has also inserted funding riders into appropriations bills, blocked a democrat amendment that tried to strip one of his WOTUS riders and voted at least five different times for legislation that has passed the House to block WOTUS. In July 2015, he berated EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy and submitted revelatory evidence into the Congressional Record from senior Army Corps of Engineer employees which expressed serious legal and scientific deficiencies with the final draft of the WOTUS rule.
More than 200 organizations and local municipalities have publicly declared their opposition to the proposed WOTUS rule.
On numerous occasions, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy broke the law by lying to Congress in order to try and impose WOUTS by regulatory fiat. On September 11, 2015, Congressman Gosar introduced H.RES.417 to initiate impeachment proceedings against Administrator McCarthy for these crimes. You can learn more about his efforts to remove Administrator McCarthy from office by clicking HERE.
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