THAT FLOOD WATER SITTING AROUND MAY SOON BE SUBJECT TO EPA REGULATION

INDIANAPOLIS (June 29, 2015): As an abundance of rain continues to plague Indiana and surrounding states, the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) sees standing water as more than a nuisance. Thanks to a recent expansion to the Clean Water Act that was originally intended to govern navigable waterways, the EPA now has vast power to regulate things like rain water.  

“The Clean Water Act was implemented to govern navigable waterways, not every place where water could possibly flow or pool.  Thanks to the definition being so expansively redefined, the federal government could now apply the decade’s old act to creeks, small ponds or streambeds that are now over run with all of this rain runoff,” said NFIB Indiana State Director Barbara Quandt. “Small business will be subject to yet another level of costly regulation if Congress does not intervene on our behalf and put a stop to this gross mismanagement of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers.”

The federal agencies recently received a nod from the White House to implement a rule that will not only give both them vast power over the regulation of water, but cost small business in Indiana tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of dollars to comply. 

“If rain collects on your property somewhere or you happen to have a pond or a stream bed that remains dry but for a small amount of time per year, then chances are the federal government will be requiring you to pay an exorbitant amount of money for a permit.” Said NFIB Indiana State Director, Barbara Quandt. “The cost of complying with the new regulations if implemented, will average $270,000 a permit. Violators of the Clean Water Act could be fined up to $37,500 a day. There isn’t a small business, or big business for that matter, in Indiana that can afford these costs.”

“Small businesses in Indiana employs thousands of people, but regulations like these will cripple those that are attempting to expand their business. When a manufacturer builds a new facility or a farmer grows more crops, we all benefit. When the government makes it harder to do these things, we all lose. Congress has the opportunity to ensure that the growth of our largest employer in Indiana, small business, is not stifled but supported in success. They can begin by eliminating the expansion of the Clean Waters Act,” Concluded Quandt.