Sen. Cramer, EPW Republicans Introduce Legislation to Codify Trump-era WOTUS Rule

Source: United States Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND)

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee, joined EPW Ranking Member Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) in introducing legislation to codify the 2020 Navigable Waters Protection Rule (NWPR), the Trump Administration’s Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule.

“The Navigable Waters Protection Rule is sound environmental and legal policy for protecting America’s waterways while respecting the role of states, a balance the illegal Obama-era rule failed to find. It’s a shame President Biden wants to throw it out and leave the rights of our farmers and landowners in flux,” said Senator Cramer. “By codifying the Trump Administration’s rule, our bill would provide regulatory certainty to the North Dakotans who sit in the heart of the Prairie Pothole Region and are greatly impacted by Waters of the U.S. regulations.”

Senator Cramer worked with the Trump Administration to craft NWPR, making sure it stays within the confines of the law. As Chair of the EPW Subcommittee on Water last Congress, the senator convened a hearing on the issue which included testimony from North Dakota’s Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring. In October 2019, Senator Cramer hosted then-EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler for a WOTUS roundtable.

At the beginning of the Biden Administration, Senator Cramer and his EPW colleagues moved to protect NWPR from being thrown out, introducing a resolution in support of it. When the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced in June it will repeal NWPR, Senator Cramer described the decision as a “shame” and vowed to work to ensure the next rule will not harm North Dakotans the way the Obama-era rule threatened to do.

To ensure his constituents have a seat at the table, Senator Cramer hosted EPA Administrator Regan in Bismarck for a listening session with North Dakotans which covered issues such as WOTUS, and he secured a commitment from the new Assistant EPA Administrator for Water, Rahdika Fox, to hold a WOTUS listening session on the new rule in North Dakota.

Senators Cramer and Capito are joined on the bill by Senators Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Richard Shelby (R-AL), John Boozman (R-AR), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Joni Ernst (R-IA), and Lindsey Graham (R-SC).

Click here for bill text.