BISMARCK – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), member of the Senate Environment and Public Works, joined Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, and his Republican colleagues on the committee in a letter to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan and Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works Michael Connor. The letter specifically requests that the Biden Administration immediately halt plans to finalize a novel definition of Waters of the United States (WOTUS) under the Clean Water Act until after the Supreme Court’s ruling in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency.

“It is expected that the Court will rule on the appropriate test for determining whether waterbodies and wetlands are jurisdictional waters under the Clean Water Act for the first time in more than 15 years. The Court’s eventual ruling will have direct bearing on the definition of WOTUS. Given this pending litigation, we believe that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the United States Army Corps of Engineers (collectively, the ‘Agencies’) must stop any work to redefine WOTUS until you are able to assess and adhere to the Court’s ruling,” the members wrote.

“Despite this Administration’s statements of a desire to establish a ‘durable’ definition of WOTUS in order to end ‘whiplash in how to best protect our waters across America,’ its approach to date has exacerbated—not mitigated—regulatory uncertainty.  This summer, the Administration chose to uproot the Navigable Waters Protection Rule (NWPR) and announced plans for two different rulemakings. If the Administration maintains this approach, it will then need to implement at least three different definitions of WOTUS over the course of the next few years to accommodate new direction from the Court,” the members continued.

In addition to Senator Cramer and Ranking Member Capito, the following Republican senators on the EPW Committee signed the letter: Senators Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Richard Shelby (R-AL), John Boozman (R-AR), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Joni Ernst (R-IA), and Lindsey Graham (R-SC).

Click here to read the letter. 

Background

Earlier this month, Senator Cramer joined Senator John Thune (R-SD) and the entire Senate Republican Conference in urging the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to suspend the pending rulemaking to redefine the scope of waters protected under the Clean Water Act (CWA), specifically waters of the United States (WOTUS). The Senators urged EPA and USACE to wait until the U.S. Supreme Court completes its consideration of Sackett v. EPA, a case that is expected to have major implications on CWA scope and enforcement. 

In December, Senator Cramer delivered testimony before North Dakota’s Legislative Assembly Interim Water Drainage Committee on WOTUS. He also hosted Environmental Protection Agency Assistant Administrator for Water Radhika Fox and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army Corps of Engineers Jamie Pinkham in Bismarck for a listening session on North Dakota’s WOTUS priorities.

Senators Cramer, Capito, Lummis, Inhofe, Boozman, Shelby, Sullivan, Ernst, and Wicker, also introduced legislation in July 2021 that would codify the Trump Administration’s Navigable Waters Protection Rule.