Inhofe Leads Congressional Support of Lawsuit Challenging EPA over WOTUS

 

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Oklahoma U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe and 20 other U.S. Senators along with 67 U.S. House members have joined a lawsuit to block the Environmental Protection Agency’s implementation of WOTUS, the “Waters of the U.S. Rule.”

Sen. Inhofe, as chairman of the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee led the filing of the amicus brief which supports petitions by 31 states and 57 municipal and industry groups in seeking to overturn the EPA final rule. Oklahoma is one of the 31 states.

Some of the other congressional leaders who joined in the filing were Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee Chairman Pat Roberts of Kansas and U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. Others were Senators Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, John Thune of South Dakota, David Vitter of Louisiana, Bill Shuster of Pennsylvania, Mike Conaway of Texas, Collin Peterson of Minnesota, Bob Goodlatte of Virginia and Hal Rogers of Kentucky.

“With this new rulemaking, the Agencies are encroaching on traditional state authorities over land use and water quantity, contrary to the clear text and intent of the 1972 Amendments, its legislative history and the supreme Court’s Decision in SWANCC, which warned that such an attempt to expand agency jurisdiction should receive no judicial deference,” said the members. “Congress, not federal agencies, has the sole and exclusive right to make law.”