LINCOLN, Neb., Nov. 5, 2015—The representative group for Nebraska’s small-business owners today applauded yesterday’s passage of a measure in the U.S. Senate that would nullify the EPA’s controversial Waters of the US (WOTUS) regulation. Senators Deb Fischer and Ben Sasse 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 nation’s drinking water is potentially jeopardized by small projects. Three senators did not vote.
“This was not some small procedural vote,” said Bob Hallstrom, Nebraska state director for the National Federation of Independent Business, America’s voice of small business. “This massive, and we believe, unconstitutional regulation puts Nebraska’s family farmers, ranchers and small businesses in great jeopardy. We’re very pleased that a bipartisan majority in the Senate acted on behalf of Nebraska small businesses.”
“Forty years ago, Congress gave the EPA the authority to regulate navigable waterways like rivers and bays,” said Steve Keen, NFIB’s manager of Senate Legislative Affairs. “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.”
An editorial written by Hallstrom explaining WOTUS can be read here. 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/Nebraska
233 South 13th St., Suite 700
Lincoln, NE 68501-0008
402-474-3570
Twitter: @NFIB_NE
