WATER POLICY:
Senate approves resolution to scuttle hot-button Obama rule
Annie Snider, E&E reporter
Published: Wednesday, November 4, 2015
The Senate this afternoon passed a resolution to kill the Obama administration’s controversial water rule under the Congressional Review Act — opponents’ second attack on the rule after their lead measure was blocked by Democrats yesterday.
The resolution was approved, 53-44, with Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine joining Democrats in opposing it and Democratic Sens. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Joe Donnelly of Indiana and Joe Manchin of West Virginia supporting. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), who had voted for the lead measure (S. 1140) to scrap the rule and instruct the agencies on how to start over, voted against the CRA resolution today. Republican Sens. Lindsay Graham of South Carolina, Marco Rubio of Florida and David Vitter of Louisiana did not vote.
The House, which has voted a number of times to oppose the Waters of the U.S. rule, is expected to approve a similar resolution, but the Obama administration has been clear that it will die on the president’s desk.
That didn’t stop opponents of the rule from mounting a colorful floor debate preceding the vote, replete with posters of farm ditches and many maps that opponents say illustrate the regulation’s reach into nearly every corner — messaging that could foreshadow how the issue will be framed during 2016 election campaigns (Greenwire<http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/stories/1060005004>, Aug. 28, 2014).
“It’s obvious why Waters of the U.S. would be a left-winger’s dream,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said this morning. “It’s equally obvious why Democratic leaders would want to pretend this rule is about clean water rather than admit what it’s really about, because the true purpose and scope of this regulation is basically indefensible.”
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) argued that the new rule governing which streams and wetlands are regulated under the Clean Water Act would give the federal government the power to block development projects.
“I’m not certain that the agencies will try to stop every project in the state — that’s too much, even for them,” she said. “But I recognize they could use this rule to stop any project they want — whenever they want and for as long as they want.”
The floor debate, in which Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) led Democrats’ defense, may be the most high-profile discussion of the water rule before it is hashed out behind closed doors during end-of-year appropriations negotiations.
Although Democratic leaders have attempted to draw a hard line about policy riders in the spending deal, Republicans have all but rolled their eyes. McConnell yesterday told reporters, “Of course there will be riders in the appropriations bills.”
Murkowski, who chairs the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee, which has jurisdiction over EPA funding, this morning said the water rule ranks as one of the top regulatory issues for Republicans.
“Of the controversial ones that are out there,” she said, “I would argue that if this is not the top, it’s certainly No. 2.”
Tags: policy, water, water rule