September 18, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 150 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session

[Page H7769]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                SUPPORTING WITHDRAWAL OF THE WOTUS RULE

  (Mr. LaMALFA asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. LaMALFA. Madam Speaker, I rise today to commend Andrew Wheeler, 
Administrator at EPA, and R.D. James, administrator at the Army Corps 
of Engineers, for withdrawing the very devastating WOTUS rule, the 
waters of the United States rule that was put in about 4 years ago 
under the Obama administration which went way beyond the bounds of what 
the Clean Water Act passed and was intended by this Congress in 1972.
  It has been devastating to farmers, ranchers, and others outside that 
do things with the management of water seeming to be not just in what 
is called navigable waterways but every mud puddle across the United 
States.
  This was a massive overreach by the previous administration on that, 
and we can put this back on a better path so that we have the type of 
management that actually does help keep our water clean in this country 
but also not onerous regulations that make it impossible to farm and 
ranch in this country.
  We have seen farmers receive million-dollar fines because of merely 
reengaging crops have been fallow for a while or changing a crop, which 
is way beyond the scope of what the Clean Water Act intended and had 
provisions for exemptions for agriculture.
  It is a great step. Thank you, EPA and Army Corps, for the repeal of 
this measure.

                          ____________________