Senate Blocks Clean Water Rule

Congressional lawmakers are still trying to pick up ground in the fight over the federal government’s new clean water policy.

That’s in spite of the fact that implementation of the new rule has stalled as the courts consider whether the rulemaking was in bounds.

In the latest effort to beat back the rule, the Senate approved a bill this month blocking it, according to The Hill. “The Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution against the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) water rule passed on a 53-44 vote. Three Democrats joined every Republican except Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) in advancing the bill. The resolution would prevent the implementation of the water rule,” the report said.

The effort by the GOP might have been aimed at making a point. “[The vote] may be largely symbolic,” The Wall Street Journal reported. That’s because President Obama has the option to veto the attempted takedown. “The House and Senate would be unlikely to muster the two-thirds majorities required to override a veto.”

Republicans said the resolution “would put their opposition to Obama’s environmental regulations squarely in the president’s hands,” The Hill reported.

Sen. James Inhofe, R-OK, chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said he will continue to fight the EPA rule.

“I remain committed to bringing common-sense legislation back to the Senate floor to stop the rule in its tracks,” he said, per the Journal. “Our nation’s farmers, ranchers, and private landowners should not have to suffer from a heavy-handed EPA while this rule is being overturned in the courts.”

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D., CA), the committee’s top Democrat, spoke in support of the regulations.

“Senate Republicans continue to attack our landmark environmental laws, and this resolution would weaken the Clean Water Act, putting our children and families at risk because it takes away protections for drinking water for one in three Americans, or 117 million people,” she said.

The rules may face bigger problems than congressional votes. Created by the EPA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the rules “were slated to take effect earlier this year, but a federal court has temporarily suspended the rules while legal challenges play out,” the Journal reported.

The EPA argues that the rule is necessary to protect waterways and because Supreme Court decisions make it unclear what the agency may regulate under the Clean Water Act. Fueled by the aggravation of the agriculture lobby, opponents have framed the proposal as a costly and burdensome example of government overreach.

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