Newhouse, Western Caucus blast Biden admin for new Clean Water Act rule

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Members of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Western Caucus are expressing shock and criticism at a recent change in federal rules defining which U.S. water bodies are subject to the Clean Water Act, which was announced by the administration of President Joe Biden on Friday, just before the New Year weekend. “This rule is yet another attack on rural America,” said Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Yakima, chairman of the Western Caucus. “Western Caucus members and the rural communities we represent have consistently called on the administration to provide regulatory certainty for farmers, ranchers, small businesses and landowners.” Newhouse, in a statement issued by the caucus on Friday, said the rule was premature given the U.S. Supreme Court is considering a case brought by an Idaho couple challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to define what constitutes “waters of the United States” under the Clean Water Act passed by Congress in 1972. According to a White House press release issued Friday, the EPA has issued a order final broadening the definition of “waters of the United States” by reimposing the definition in use in 2015, before the administration of President Donald J. Trump narrowed and restricted it. In the press release, the White House said the goal is to restore fundamental protections for all navigable waters in the United States as well as any tributaries and upstream water sources, to restore the protections Congress intended when it wrote the Clean Water Act.