The U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, chaired by U.S. Rep, Bill Shuster (R-PA), and the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, chaired by U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK), will hold a joint hearing next week to examine the impacts on state and local governments of a proposed rule to expand federal regulation of waters under the Clean Water Act.
Last April, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers issued a proposed “Waters of the United States" rule that would broaden the scope of the Clean Water Act and alter a long-standing federal-state partnership to regulate waters. Next week’s hearing will examine the potential impacts of the proposed rule on state and local governments, many of whom have expressed concerns that they and other stakeholders were not consulted with during the rule’s development.
This bicameral hearing, entitled “Impacts of the Proposed Waters of the United States Rule on State and Local Governments," is scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m. EST on Wednesday, February 4, 2015, in HVC 210 (House Visitors Center of the U.S. Capitol). The hearing will also be streamed live here.
*** Members of the media, due to limited seating, please RSVP to Justin.Harclerode@mail.house.gov if planning to attend. ***
Witness List:
Panel I
The Honorable Gina McCarthy, Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
The Honorable Jo-Ellen Darcy, Assistant Secretary of the Army, for Civil Works
Panel II
The Honorable E. Scott Pruitt, Attorney General, State of Oklahoma
The Honorable Adam H. Putnam, Florida Commissioner of Agriculture, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services; on behalf of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture
The Honorable Sallie Clark, Commissioner, District 3, El Paso County, CO; on behalf of the National Association of Counties
The Honorable Timothy Mauck, Commissioner, District 1, Clear Creek County, CO
Lemuel M. Srolovic, Bureau Chief, Environmental Protection Bureau, Office of New York State Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman
More information about the hearing, including testimony, additional background information, and live webcast, will be posted here as it becomes available.
Source: House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
