Republican Senators Introduce Bills To Overturn EPA Rules

Last week, Connecting the Dots reported Republican governors had asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to halt its new Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule. A week later, Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), and all 47 of their Senate Republican colleagues introduced legislation to formally challenge implementation of the EPA’s WOTUS rule.

As MSCI members may recall, this rule will govern the country’s wetlands and waterways. Specifically, it defines which waters get federal protections that would require businesses to obtain a permit for activities like construction that could damage water quality — and which do not. The final rule restores the standard that was in place prior to 2015 under the Clean Water Act (CWA) for traditional navigable waters, territorial seas, interstate waters, and upstream water resources that significantly affect those waters.

MSCI opposes this rule.

“With its overreaching navigable waters rule, the Biden administration upended regulatory certainty and placed unnecessary burdens directly on millions of Americans,” Sen. Capito said. Read more here.

Also last week: a group of 34 Republicans senators, including Sen. Fischer, introduced legislation that would reverse a new stricter EPA rule on the emissions standards for heavy-duty vehicles.

The senators said the new regulation, which was finalized last year and calls for emissions levels that are 80 percent stricter than current standards, would make trucks more expensive and raise supply-chain costs. The regulations would apply to heavy duty trucks starting with model year 2027. Sen. Fischer also argued the “aggressive” EPA rule would incentivize “operators to keep using older, higher-emitting trucks for longer.” Read more here.

With Democrats in control of the Senate it is unlikely these two bills will get a hearing or votes on the Senate floor.