Small Business Challenges “Audacious Power Grab” by the Obama Administration
Contact: Kelly Klass, (609)713-4243
NFIB lays out arguments against Waters of the United States regulation in federal court
Washington, D.C. (November 1, 2016) – The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Army Corps of Engineers illegally expanded the Clean Waters Act and failed to perform a mandatory economic analysis when crafting its controversial Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule, said the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) today in a brief filed before the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.
“The EPA and the Army Corps rewrote the Clean Water Act in an effort to expand their power and, in the process, completely ignored their obligation to consider how the rule would affect small businesses,” said Karen Harned, Executive Director of the NFIB Small Business Legal Center. “This was a clear violation of the EPA’s authority, and if the rule stands, it will establish a dangerous precedent allowing federal regulators to reinterpret laws arbitrarily.”
The EPA last year finalized the contested regulation, which NFIB argues will dramatically expand federal authority over private property under the Clean Water Act. The Act explicitly confines federal environmental oversight to “navigable waterways,” like rivers and bays. The law left it up to the states to set environmental regulatory standards for the protection of all other waters. Under the new “Waters of the United States” rule, the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers have asserted federal oversight over much smaller bodies of water, including farmers’ ponds, irrigation ditches, local creeks and streams, and even land that is dry through most of the year. NFIB, alongside several other business groups, today argued that this expansion is not in their jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act.
NFIB also argued that the EPA refused to perform a small business impact analysis, as required by the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA). The RFA requires federal agencies to consider alternatives whenever a proposed regulation will have a significant adverse impact on small business.
“WOTUS has the power to destroy many thousands of small businesses with shock-and-awe penalties and permit costs,” said Harned. “This is going to have a huge impact on future development and economic expansion. We are hopeful that the court will recognize the EPA’s overreach and prevent the rule from being implemented.”
For more information, please visit www.NFIB.com/WOTUS
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