02.28.17

Hoeven Statement on Executive Order to Eliminate the Obama Administration's Waters of the U.S. Rule

Senator Worked to Block Implementation of the Rule in 2016, 2017

WASHINGTON -- Senator John Hoeven today released the following statement after the president signed an executive order to eliminate the Obama Administration’s Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rule. The president’s order begins the process of undoing the regulation. Hoeven worked to defund the rule in 2016 and 2017, and it was put on hold by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

“The Obama Administration’s Waters of the U.S. rule was a regulatory overreach that would have placed unnecessary burdens on farmers, ranchers and other small businesses in North Dakota and across the nation,” said Hoeven. “The president’s executive order starts the removal of the Obama rule and ensures that we support economic growth, provide regulatory certainty and respect states’ rights.”

President Trump’s executive order directs the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Army Corps of Engineers to rescind or revise the Obama Administration’s WOTUS rule to ensure that it promotes economic growth, minimizes regulatory uncertainty and upholds the Constitutional role of states, while ensuring that the nation’s waters are kept free from pollution. 

As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Hoeven worked to prohibit the EPA from implementing the rule in 2016 and 2017. In November, Hoeven also worked with his colleagues to pass a Resolution of Disapproval to repeal the rule, however the Obama Administration vetoed the measure in January. 

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