Got a wet yard? EPA will take control

The EPA, according to critics in Congress, “intends to expand federal regulatory authority under the Clean Water Act to include even the most isolated wetlands, seasonal drainages, and prairie depressions.” The proposed rushed change in regulations would assert “unprecedented control” over private property across the United States, opponents assert. Several members of Congress and a legal team that won related battles in the U.S. Supreme Court against previous claims staked out by the EPA now are positioning themselves to oppose Washington bureaucrats pressing for the change. According to Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, the chairman of the Science, Space, and Technology Committee, and Rep. Chris Stewart, R-Utah, the chairman of the Environment Subcommittee, the proposal is a “sweeping reinterpretation of EPA jurisdiction would give the agency unprecedented control over private property across the nation.” They warned the EPA in a letter  that any “attempt to issue a proposed rule before completing an independent examination by the agency’s own science advisers would be to put the cart before the horse.” The congressmen expressed concern that the expansion of the Clean Water Act “appears to represent a rushed, politicized regulatory process lacking the proper consultation with scientific peer reviewers and the American people.”...more