Sullivan Applauds Passage of Bill to Overturn Harmful WOTUS Rule
WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-AK) released the following statement today after the U.S. Senate passed bipartisan legislation to nullify the Environmental Protection Agency’s Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule.
“Today, on behalf of the American people, the U.S. Senate sent a strong message to the Obama Administration that this kind of federal-agency overreach will not be tolerated,” said Senator Sullivan. “The WOTUS rule is a prime example of this Administration’s persistent disregard for the rule of law and yet another attempt to bypass Congress and the American people by granting a rogue agency like the EPA vast new authority over lands across the country, particularly in Alaska, which is home to 60 percent of the nation’s jurisdictional waters. Thirty-one states have filed lawsuits against the rule. Two federal courts have blocked implementation. Hundreds of groups across the country representing hundreds of thousands of Americans—including thousands of Alaskans—have opposed it. The people have spoken. This rule must be overturned.”
Last night, Senator Sullivan spoke on the Senate floor about how the Obama Administration is killing projects through regulation and through delay. The WOTUS Rule, he said, “is the latest manifestation of this.”
Since arriving to the Senate in January of 2015, Senator Sullivan has worked aggressively, with a bipartisan group of colleagues in pushing back against this federal overreach.
February 4th: Senator Sullivan challenged Administrator McCarthy at a joint EPW/House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing on where the EPA derives the legal authority to move forward with the WOTUS rule.
April 6th: Senator Sullivan, chairman of the EPW Subcommittee on Fisheries, Water, and Wildlife, held a field hearing in Anchorage, Alaska to examine the impacts of the proposed WOTUS rule on state and local governments and stakeholders.
April 8th: Senator Sullivan authored an ep-ed in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner on WOTUS.
April 8th: Senator Sullivan, chairman of the EPW Subcommittee on Fisheries, Water, and Wildlife, held a field hearing in Fairbanks, Alaska to examine the impacts of the proposed WOTUS rule on state and local governments and stakeholders.
April 30th: Senator Sullivan joined a bipartisan group of senators, led by Sens. John Barrasso (R-WY), Joe Donnelly (D-IN), Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), Pat Roberts (R-KS), in introducing S. 1140, the Federal Water Quality Protection Act, legislation that would force the EPA to withdraw the rule and start over.
May 19th: Senator Sullivan chaired an EPW Subcommittee on Fisheries, Water, and Wildlife legislative hearing on S. 1140, the Federal Water Quality Protection Act, which would force the EPA to withdraw the rule and start over.
May 22nd: Senator Sullivan in addition to Sens. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) and Mike Rounds (R-SD) sent a letter to EPA Administrator McCarthy to express concerns and demand answers regarding a recent New York Times article that reported that the EPA may have conducted an unprecedented and possibly illegal lobbying and marketing effort on behalf of the controversial WOTUS rule.
September 17th: Senator Sullivan joined Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) along with 45 Senate colleagues in co-sponsoring a joint resolution disapproving the WOTUS rule.
September 30th: Senator Sullivan chaired an EPW Subcommittee on Fisheries, Water and Wildlife hearing on the “Oversight of the Army Corps of Engineers’ Participation in the Development of the New Regulatory Definition of “Waters of the United States.”
###
Next Article Previous Article
