DELAWARE SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNED WITH FEDERAL INTERFERENCE
DOVER (February 29, 2016) – Small businesses in
Delaware are bracing for new EPA regulations that could limit economic
development in the Chesapeake Bay region as the result of a decision today by
the U.S. Supreme Court, according to the National Federation of Independent
Business (NFIB).
“The state of Delaware already regulates the area and to
have the federal government now interfering with the region is certainly
disconcerting,” according to NFIB Delaware state director, Mike O’Halloran.
“The last thing small businesses in Delaware need is more cumbersome regulation
at any level of government.”
The Court today let stand an earlier decision by a
three-judge panel in Philadelphia allowing the EPA to override state programs
to protect natural resources. The case results from President Obama’s
2009 executive order directing the EPA to essentially federalize environmental
protection in the Chesapeake Bay region, which includes Maryland, Virginia,
Delaware, Pennsylvania, New York, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia.
“Obviously the Chesapeake Bay Watershed is an incredibly
important natural resource that needs protection but federal intervention is an
imposition on the rights of the individual states,” said O’Halloran. “The
small business community values its natural resources however it is always
troubling when the federal government attempts to force multiple states into a
solution that may not necessarily be advantageous to each of the states.”
