Senator Marshall: Keep WOTUS Repealed

(Washington, D.C., January 27, 2021) – U.S. Senator Roger Marshall is helping lead an effort on a Senate resolution that expresses the need for the U.S. Senate to stand with workers, farmers, manufacturers, and businesses by upholding the Trump Administration’s Navigable Waters Protection rule, which replaced the Obama-era Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule. 

“As Kansas farmers, ranchers, businesses and even municipalities know all too well, WOTUS dramatically expanded the reach of the federal government with minimal improvements in water quality. The Trump Administration’s Navigable Waters Protection rule served as a tremendous relief to Kansans and provided the regulatory certainty we need to grow,” said Senator Marshall. “Members of our state’s agriculture community spent the better part of the last decade trying to operate under the burdensome and uninformed regulations imposed by the Obama administration with WOTUS – we can’t allow the Biden Administration to take us backward yet again.”

Supporters of the resolution include Senators Joni Ernst (Iowa) Chuck Grassley (Iowa), Deb Fischer (Neb.), Ben Sasse (Neb.), Jerry Moran (Kan.), Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.), Kevin Cramer (N.D.), John Hoeven (N.D.), Mike Rounds (S.D.), James Risch (Idaho), John Barasso (Wyo.), Cynthia Lummis (Wyo.), Steve Daines (Mont.), Dan Sullivan (Alaska), Josh Hawley (Mo.), Roy Blunt (Mo.), Thom Tillis (N.C.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), Tom Cotton (Ark.), Cindy Hyde-Smith (Miss.), Roger Wicker (Miss.), Rand Paul (Ky.), Mike Crapo (daho), Mike Braun (Ind.), and Ron Johnson (Wis.).

Background:

In 2015, the Obama Administration finalized a rule that expanded the definition of the Waters of the United States—giving the federal government authority to regulate water on much of the land in Kansas—and creating confusion and burdensome red tape for Kansas’ agriculture industry and many others.

The Trump Administration released a proposed rule to replace the Obama Administration’s 2015 WOTUS rule with a new rule that provided much-needed predictability and certainty for farmers by establishing clear and reasonable definitions of what qualifies as a “water of the United States.” The new Navigable Waters Protection Rule was finalized last year.

Now, on day one of his administration, President Biden signed an executive order that would roll back the Trump Administration’s executive order which began the process of rescinding Obama’s WOTUS rule. That’s why Senator Marshall supported this resolution expressing the sense of the Senate that the Navigable Waters Protection Rule should not be withdrawn or vacated.

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