EPA Waters Regulations. H.R. 1732 would order the secretary of the Army and the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to withdraw the notice of a proposed rule published in the Federal Register entitled “Definition of ‘Waters of the United States’ Under the Clean Water Act” (April 21, 2014).
This legislation was introduced because of the EPA’s sustained attempt to grab regulatory authority over virtually all surface water and groundwater throughout the United States ever since the Clean Water Act gave the EPA authority in 1972 to regulate “waters of the United States,” defined as “navigable waters.” Although the EPA has almost comically stretched the definition of “navigable waters” to include puddles, vernal pools, ditches, seasonal streams, and isolated ponds, this unconstitutional federal agency’s power grab over “waters of the United States” has been repeatedly slapped down by the Supreme Court.
The House passed H.R. 1732 on May 12, 2015 by a vote of 261 to 155 (Roll Call 219). We have assigned pluses to the yeas because the constitutionally dubious premise of federal regulation of “navigable waters” on the basis of the interstate commerce clause should not encompass puddles, ditches, seasonal streams, and isolated ponds on private lands.
