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BISMARCK – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, hosted Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Assistant Administrator for Water Radhika Fox and Acting-Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works Jaime Pinkham in Bismarck for a Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) listening session. EPA will be holding ten virtual listening sessions as they work to craft a new WOTUS rule, this is the only in-person listening session.

“North Dakotans live and work in the heart of the Prairie Pothole Region and have long been subjected to the regulatory ping pong of Waters of the U.S. regulations. It was never the intent of the Clean Water Act to override states and North Dakota’s leadership against the 2015 rule proves the limits of the federal government. It shouldn’t be this hard to identify what is navigable water and what is not. I’m grateful the EPA upheld their commitment to hold an in-person listening session in North Dakota to hear from farmers, landowners, and stakeholders. I hope the input they provide will make a lasting impact on the agency as they work towards an enduring rule,” said Senator Cramer. 

During Senator Cramer’s remarks, he stressed the need for a clear definition of navigable waters under WOTUS. He spoke about the principle of cooperative federalism and the relationship between federal and local governments as it relates to enforcement. At the listening session, Assistant Administrator Fox and Acting-Assistant Secretary Pinkham heard firsthand from farmers, landowners, and stakeholders who deal with WOTUS as EPA works to craft a new rule.  

“We are really committed to finding an end to this ping pong we have seen for so long. The truth is, the only thing that is constant about Waters of the U.S. is change. The whiplash and that uncertainty does no good for anybody. We have heard the concerns from Senator Cramer and Senator Hoeven about the 2015 Clean Water Rule, and [EPA] Administrator Regan and I also share those concerns,” said Assistant Administrator Fox at the listening session. “Whether it’s the Clean Water Rule or the Navigable Waters Protection Rule, where does that leave us? It leaves us with uncertainty and what we need is a stable definition.”

“This is a joint effort between the EPA and the U.S. Army in taking on WOTUS,”said Acting-Assistant Secretary Pinkham at the listening session. “In the places you call home and the places you love, one of the things that’s fundamental to your survival and identity is water. For the opportunity we have here, can we set our hardships off to the side and roll up our sleeves and try to find a long-term durable answer?”

“If we could get to a point where we talk about certainty and we talk about clarity, and we make sure we’re respecting states’ rights and we’re respecting how we need to operate, function, manage, and provide for our communities, our state, and our nation and be a part of the solution, then we’re talking the right language,” said North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring at the listening session. “We have a great story to tell in the United States of America, and North Dakota is smack-dab in the middle of that conversation and that story.”

Following the listening session and press conference, the senator and Assistant Administrator Fox toured a rural water supply plant and met with the North Dakota Rural Water Systems Association. They discussed drinking water and wastewater programs under EPA.

Today’s visit follows up Assistant Administrator Fox’s commitments in June and October to visit North Dakota and talk with stakeholders. Of the ten EPA listening sessions on the new WOTUS rule, this was the only in-person listening session.

As the EPW Subcommittee Chairman with jurisdiction on water issues last Congress, Senator Cramer oversaw the crafting of the Navigable Waters Protection Rule, convening a hearing in 2019 – which included testimony from North Dakota’s Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring – to highlight the problems of the Obama Administration’s WOTUS rule and to outline the principles a new rule should follow. In September 2019, the senator hosted then-EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler in North Dakota to discuss this issue at a roundtable with stakeholders and local leaders.

At the beginning of the Biden Administration, Senator Cramer and his EPW colleagues moved to protect NWPR from being thrown out, introducing a resolution in support of NWPR. When EPA announced in June it would repeal NWPR, Senator Cramer described the decision as a “shame” and vowed to work to ensure the next rule will not harm North Dakotans the way the Obama-era rule threatened to do. Senator Cramer also introduced legislation to codify the Trump Administration’s WOTUS rule.