JUNEAU, Alaska, Nov. 4, 2015—The representative group for Alaska’s small-business owners today applauded the passage of a measure in the Senate that would nullify the EPA’s controversial Waters of the US (WOTUS) regulation. Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan voted for the measure.
By a tally of 53 to 44, senators approved a resolution disapproving the EPA’s and the Army Corps of Engineers’ WOTUS rule, a sweeping new regulation giving the federal government vast authority over even the most local property improvements, on the theory that the nation’s drinking water is potentially jeopardized by small projects. Three senators did not vote.
“Small businesses in Alaska are glad that both Senators Murkowski and Sullivan are leading the charge to repeal these egregious regulations,” said Denny DeWitt, Alaska state director for the National Federation of Independent Business, America’s voice of small business. “The EPA regulations were adopted outside the federal requirements that small businesses have input. This legislation recognizes that there is a serious impact on small businesses, especially in Alaska. We are proud that our senators recognize that Alaska has state regulation addressing these issues which work for resource development, business and commerce and protection of our environment.”
Steve Keen, NFIB’s manager of Senate Legislative Affairs, said, “Forty years ago, Congress gave the EPA the authority to regulate navigable waterways like rivers and bays. It never intended for federal regulators to decide whether a waterfront restaurant can expand its parking lot or whether a local builder can put a cabin on a lake. What’s worse is that if a local business owner undertakes a small project without getting EPA approval, he opens himself up to environmental lawsuits that could destroy his business entirely. This is going to make local economic development riskier and more expensive.”
Additional information can be found at www.nfib.com.
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For more than 70 years, the National Federation of Independent Business has been the Voice of Small Business, taking the message from Main Street to the halls of Congress and all 50 state legislatures. NFIB annually surveys its members on state and federal issues vital to their survival as America’s economic engine and biggest creator of jobs. NFIB’s educational mission is to remind policymakers that small businesses are not smaller versions of bigger businesses; they have very different challenges and priorities.
National Federation of Independent Business/Alaska
P.O. Box 34761
Juneau, AK 99801
907-723-6667
