The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed legislation prohibiting the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from developing, finalizing, adopting, implementing, applying, administering, or enforcing the EPA rule defining what constitutes “waters of the United States” under the Clean Water Act.
This Waters of the United States Regulatory Overreach Protection Act of 2014, H.R. 5078, comes as a response to a move by the EPA in April of this year that proposed changes to how the EPA will define “waters of the United States.” The EPA’s update uses scientific terms from hydrogeology to define which waters are covered under the Clean Water Act.
Farmers, however, have criticized the EPA update as 80 pages of technical and legal jargon. After Congressional hearings, the House passed The Waters of the United States Regulatory Overreach Protection Act of 2014. This bill will go to the Senate next for consideration.
