Title: A resolution expressing the sense of the Senate that clean water is a national priority, and that the June 29, 2015, Waters of the United States Rule should be withdrawn or vacated.
Policy area: Environmental Protection

Summary:
Calls for the nullification of the final rule entitled, "Clean Water Rule: Definition of 'Waters of the United States,'" about the scope of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act). The Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued the rule on June 29, 2015.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 12 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 12

   Expressing the sense of the Senate that clean water is a national 
priority, and that the June 29, 2015, Waters of the United States Rule 
                    should be withdrawn or vacated.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 12, 2017

   Mrs. Fischer (for herself and Mrs. Ernst) submitted the following 
  resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Environment and 
                              Public Works

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
   Expressing the sense of the Senate that clean water is a national 
priority, and that the June 29, 2015, Waters of the United States Rule 
                    should be withdrawn or vacated.

Whereas the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.) 
        (commonly known as the ``Clean Water Act'') is one of the most important 
        laws in the United States and has led to decades of successful 
        environmental improvements;
Whereas the success of that Act depends on consistent adherence to the key 
        principle of cooperative federalism, under which the Federal Government 
        and State and local governments all have a role in protecting water 
        resources;
Whereas, in structuring the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 
        et seq.) based on the foundation of cooperative federalism, Congress 
        left to the States their traditional authority over land and water, 
        including farmers' fields, nonnavigable, wholly intrastate water 
        (including puddles and ponds), and the allocation of water supplies;
Whereas compliance with the principle of cooperative federalism requires that 
        any regulation defining the term ``waters of the United States'' be 
        promulgated--

    (1) after the establishment of a proper regulatory baseline for, and an 
evaluation of the costs and benefits of, the proposed regulatory definition 
of the term;

    (2) in compliance with--

    G    (A) chapter 6 of title 5, United States Code (commonly known as 
the ``Regulatory Flexibility Act''); and

    G    (B) the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 
et seq.); and

    (3) in consultation with States and local governments, including 
consultation with respect to--

    G    (A) alternative proposals for changing the regulatory definition 
of the term; and

    G    (B) the impact of the alternative proposals, including costs and 
benefits, on State and local governments and small entities;

Whereas, in promulgating the final rule entitled ``Clean Water Rule: Definition 
        of `Waters of the United States''' (80 Fed. Reg. 37054 (June 29, 2015)) 
        (referred to in this preamble as the ``Waters of the United States 
        Rule''), the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and 
        the Chief of Engineers--

    (1) failed to follow the procedural steps described in the fourth 
whereas clause; and

    (2) claimed broad and expansive jurisdiction that encroaches on 
traditional State authority and undermines longstanding exemptions from 
Federal regulation under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 
1251 et seq.); and

Whereas, on October 9, 2015, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth 
        Circuit--

    (1) issued a nationwide stay for the Waters of the United States Rule; 
and

    (2) found that the petitioners who requested that the court vacate the 
Waters of the United States Rule have a substantial possibility of success 
in a hearing on the merits of the case: Now, therefore, be it

    Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that the final rule of 
the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Chief 
of Engineers entitled ``Clean Water Rule: Definition of `Waters of the 
United States''' (80 Fed. Reg. 37054 (June 29, 2015)) should be 
vacated.
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