United States Senator Deb Fischer’s Weekly Column
Overreaching environmental regulations upended the Sackett family’s life.
Michael and Chantell Sackett purchased a lot in a residential area near Priest Lake, Idaho in 2004. They simply wanted to build a home. They obtained county building permits and, in 2007, started placing sand and gravel on their property to get it ready for the build.
But shortly after the family began preparing their lot, the Environmental Protection Agency told them to stop. The building plot contained no direct surface water connection to any navigable body of water. But because of the plot’s proximity to Priest Lake, the EPA said that placing sand and gravel on the property violated the Clean Water Act.
The Clean Water Act prohibits the discharge of pollutants — such as the rocks and sand used to prepare a building plot — into “navigable waters.” Navigable waters are ambiguously defined by the Clean Water Act as “waters of the United States,” more commonly known as WOTUS. Normally, navigable waters are defined as waters that are deep, wide, and calm enough for boats or ships to go across. The surface water on the Idaho family’s lot certainly didn’t fit that bill.
So, the Sacketts challenged the EPA. Eventually, their case — Sackett v. EPA — reached the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ruled unanimously in their favor: they said that the Clean Water Act’s protections extend only to wetlands with a continuous surface connection to “waters of the United States,” defined as a relatively permanent body of water connected to traditional interstate navigable waters.
But even after the Supreme Court’s ruling almost two years ago, the Biden administration’s EPA plowed ahead with its vague definition of WOTUS. President Biden’s WOTUS rule allowed EPA officials in Washington, D.C. to make case-by-case determinations of what should be considered a water of the U.S. This rule allowed the federal government to heavily regulate privately owned land containing ponds, puddles, and even dry ditches, needlessly placing more people under restrictive regulations and fines.
At long last, earlier this month, President Trump’s EPA announced that it will reconsider the Biden-era WOTUS rule, along with dozens of other heavy-handed regulations from the last administration. Americans must know which waters are subject to federal jurisdiction, not be left in uncertainty that their lives might be upended like the Sacketts’ were. And the Trump administration wants to provide Americans with clarity, not bombard them with unnecessary rules.
The EPA also announced that it will reconsider the Biden administration’s overreaching regulations on power plants, commonly known as the “Clean Power Plan 2.0.” This plan misused the Clean Air Act to stunt electricity generation in the United States and limit Americans’ choices. It would raise prices for American families by making electricity generation less affordable and reliable. The Trump administration is fulfilling its promise to unleash American energy by reconsidering these regulations.
In another victory for American families, the EPA is reconsidering the regulations that formed the backbone of President Biden’s electric vehicle mandate: the Model Year 2027 and Later Light-Duty and Medium-Duty Vehicles regulation and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards for Heavy-Duty Vehicles. Not only would these rules take away people’s ability to choose the safest and most affordable car for their own families, they would impose over $700 billion in regulatory and compliance costs.
Each of these Biden-era regulations created more costly hoops for families to jump through just to achieve simple parts of the American dream, like buying a car or building a house. I was pleased to see that the EPA will reconsider WOTUS, the Clean Power Plan 2.0, and vehicle emissions regulations, along with dozens of other rules. Republicans are committed to bringing sanity back to our bureaucracy, restoring the booming economy of the first Trump administration, and unleashing American energy. I’ll continue working with the Trump administration to accomplish each of these goals.
Thank you for participating in the democratic process. I look forward to visiting with you again next week.
