GOP senator pushes EPA to justify water rule

Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) is asking Obama administration officials for further scientific justification for their rule establishing regulatory power over waterways.

In an eight-page letter, Inhofe highlighted a litany of aspects within the “waters of the United States” rule that he says are not covered by the scientific studies referenced within it.

{mosads}Inhofe asked the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Army Corps of Engineers for extensive documentation that establish which waterways are subject to the rule. He said the rule is too broad, arguing that it would give regulators power over waterways based on birds’ consumption and excretion of seeds.

“EPA has said that the geographic scope of the final rule can reach the ‘vast majority of the nation’s water features’ and by relying on groundwater or bird droppings, EPA and the Corps could control all of them,” Inhofe, the chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works committee, said in a statement. 

“To understand both the rationale behind the final rule, and its scope, I asked EPA and the Corps to provide the documents they relied on to develop this rule.”

The rule defines the bodies of water the federal government can regulate if they are in danger of being polluted. Opponents of the rule have warned it is too broad, even before regulators finalized it, and it’s spawned lawsuits from dozens of states. 

EPA officials have said justification for the rule would be built into it when it was finalized. The EPA released the final version in May and published it in the Federal Register last week. 

An EPA spokeswoman said Monday that the agency had received Inhofe’s letter and was reviewing it.

Republicans have long questioned the legal and scientific foundation for the water rule and other EPA regulations, with some even threatening to hold up department nominees until officials respond to their questions. 

“After reviewing the docket for the rule, my staff cannot find evidence of impacts to navigable waters from the ephemeral and isolated waters that EPA and the Corps now claim to control,” Inhofe said Monday. 

“Instead, we found documents that make it clear that the final rule is even broader than the agencies admit.”