New water regulations have many business owners worried. Here's a round-up of the many sliding pieces.
The Obama administration is expected to take executive action on the Environmental Protection Agency’s updated ruling on the Clean Water Act this week, which could have a big impact for many small business owners.
The update is expected to clarify two prior Supreme Court decisions that “created legal confusion about whether the federal government had the authority to regulate the smaller streams and headwaters, and about other water sources such as wetlands,” according to The New York Times.
The ruling could negatively affect all sorts of small businesses and “represents an unprecedented jurisdictional land-grab,” Elizabeth Milito, senior executive counsel at NFIB, said in a recent testimony to the Senate Small Business Committee.
The new ruling will “protect a significantly larger percentage of streams and wetlands that provide habitat for wildlife and sources of drinking water,” The Los Angeles Times reported.
For small businesses, that means it will be “tremendously expensive” or impossible to do anything with their land if it’s protected, according to NFIB.
A ‘Disturbing’ New Layer of Bureaucracy
“Our members are scared to death of it, because their property is their business in many cases,” said NFIB Media Director Jack Mozloom to The Hill. “They’re accustomed to dealing with their respective state environmental enforcement agencies, and this adds an entirely new and disturbing layer of federal bureaucracy on top of all that.”
Bills hoping to stop the ruling have been introduced in Congress, including H.R. 1732, which NFIB key voted in support.
