WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Subcommittee on Fisheries, Water, and Wildlife, joined Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) in introducing a Senate resolution in support of the Navigable Waters Protection Rule, which replaced the Obama-era Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule.
The resolution cites clean water as a national priority and, if passed, signals the Senate believes the Navigable Waters Protection Rule should not be withdrawn or vacated.
Click here to read the resolution.
Senators Cramer and Ernst were joined on the resolution by Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Ben Sasse (R-NE), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), John Hoeven (R-ND), Mike Rounds (R-SD), James Risch (R-ID), John Barasso (R-WY), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Steve Daines (R-MT), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Josh Hawley (R-MO), Roy Blunt (R-MO), Thom Tillis (R-NC), John Boozman (R-AR), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Rand Paul (R-KY), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Mike Braun (R-IN), and Ron Johnson (R-WI).
Background:
The Trump Administration repealed the previous Water of the United States (WOTUS) rule and finalized this rule last January.
As the EPW Subcommittee Chairman with jurisdiction on water issues, Senator Cramer oversaw the crafting of the Navigable Waters Protection Rule, convening a hearing last year – with 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. The Senator hosted U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler in North Dakota to discuss this issue at a roundtable with North Dakota stakeholders and local leaders.