Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. COTTON. Mr. President, today I wish to speak about our vote on the waters of the United States and the Environmental Protection Agency.

I noted that the White House has lately been advocating for criminal justice reform. They say an underlying problem with the justice system today is that Congress criminalized too much conduct too severely. But it is the same White House that is behind the new waters of the United States regulation--an Executive power grab that would effectively put every landowner in Arkansas and in America at risk of Federal criminal charges for making adjustments to land on their own private property.

The waters of the United States regulation gives the government jurisdiction--and, in turn, the danger of Federal criminal charges--over tributaries, adjacent waters, and ``other waters.'' This includes streams that only exist after heavy rains or, as some of us call them, mud puddles.

If a landowner in Arkansas has so much as a ditch on his or her property, he or she could be liable for Federal criminal charges for disturbing that ditch in any way. If a homeowner wants to add an addition to his garage and this addition even touches ``land that fills with water after rain,'' also known as just ``land,'' this homeowner could be liable for Federal criminal charges.

President Obama and my Democratic colleagues argue that we are exaggerating: Come on, they say; the Environmental Protection Agency would never bring charges against a homeowner for expanding his garage or trying to regulate a mud puddle.

They insist on the benevolence of the EPA and ask us to trust them to exercise good judgment and reasonable discretion. Before we trust the EPA's benevolence, though, it is prudent to examine the EPA's own track record.

Let's consider that in August of this year, the EPA directed contractors to excavate the Gold King Mine in Colorado without first testing the water pressure or calculating water volume. In the worst environmental disaster in recent years, the EPA caused more than 3 million tons of toxic wastewater to pollute the Animas River.

Since the spill, much of the toxicity remains, endangering farmers, landowners, Native Americans, and anyone who relies on this river. After the spill, the EPA has refused to turn over documents, disciplined no one, failed to show up to congressional hearings, refused to take responsibility, and still won't answer the simple question of whether the Agency will pay for the damages it caused.

The Navajo Nation in New Mexico relies on the river polluted by the EPA for drinking water and for farming. In the days following the spill, the Navajo lost their water supply. The EPA offered to deliver clean water that the Navajo could use for drinking and crop irrigation but, instead, they used dirty oil tankers to deliver contaminated water.

The EPA is not only a threat to citizens, to landowners, and to businesses, but it is also a threat to the environment they purport to protect. Since the disaster, the EPA has continued to spill toxic wastewater into creeks and rivers. There has been zero accountability for this Agency.

Based on that track record, I don't think we should be giving the EPA any more power. That is why I joined my colleagues earlier today to vote to roll back the waters of the United States regulation before the EPA criminalizes nearly every landowner in the United States.

But we should also consider the bigger picture. This regulation is a symptom, not the problem. The problem is the EPA itself--its overreach and lack of accountability.

That is why we must pass the EPA Accountability Act. This legislation would require the EPA to pay--out of its own budget--for the damages it recklessly caused when spilling 3 million gallons of toxic waste into the Animas River. Unless the EPA faces consequences for its actions against the American people, nothing will change. It is our constitutional responsibility to provide oversight of an agency that has caused massive damage to both the American people and to the environment.

We must protect Arkansans and Americans from EPA overreach and lack of accountability.

I yield the floor.

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