Directing Committees to Review Regulations from Federal Committees: House of Representatives

Floor Speech

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Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of H. Res. 72.

This administration's EPA has been allowed to operate unchecked by proposing regulations and actions not based on sound science and data. For example, an issue receiving more attention in Pennsylvania is the proposed regulation of the Chesapeake Bay and surrounding watershed. These regulations have a devastating economic impact on my constituents. Unquestionably, the bay is in need and truly worthy of our support. However, the EPA's ``shoot first and ask questions later'' approach will have detrimental economic effects on rural communities.

The EPA, through a Presidential executive order, has created a Federal backstop for watershed implementation plans, commonly known as WIPs. This action has prevented the State's authority to implement their own strategies to clean up watersheds. Additionally, the EPA has proposed accelerated and unreasonable timelines for court-mandated total maximum daily loads, or TMDLs. The TMDL is a mandatory diet to restrict nutrient and sediment runoff. EPA has based the Chesapeake Bay TMDLs on its own bay modeling. This model has been called into question by many, including Limnotech, an independent and respected consulting firm on water issues.

Using the EPA's own data, Limnotech compared it against data from the USDA which showed inconsistent assumptions between agencies. The head of the USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service has recently gone as far as to say that the EPA's data on conservation practices is erroneous.

Agriculture is not receiving the credit it deserves towards reducing nutrient and sediment runoff. Yet the EPA is forcing the bay States to move forward on accelerated mandates using the agency's flawed bay model and limited feedback from the public and stakeholders. Although the EPA unfortunately has not performed any kind of economic analysis of TMDL, continuing on this path will undoubtedly cause severe economic impact on producers in rural communities.

For example, the Commonwealth of Virginia estimates it will cost $4,665 per taxpayer to meet the TMDL requirements, and Maryland estimates they're looking at $8,500 per taxpayer, or $10 billion over the next 10 years.

This is simply a fundamental difference between the approach of the Agriculture Committee and the strategy of this administration. The goal is the same, the vitality and health of the Chesapeake Bay, but the methods of achieving these goals could not be more different.

The 2008 farm bill provided incentive-based aid for farmers and ranchers to improve management practices which would have a direct result of improving water quality; but the administration simply does not want to give the time for these programs to work. Instead, they have done what they have been doing since taking office, overregulating farmers and ranchers and punishing States for not meeting certain arbitrary benchmarks.

Rural America cannot afford for the EPA to continue this arbitrary regulation and not recognize current conservation efforts. I strongly believe that we need to hit the pause button on the TMDLs and first perform a study on the progress already being made on the Chesapeake through existing efforts already being employed.

I'm proud of the fact that the farmers are taking real action on the ground every day to improve water quality in the Chesapeake Bay region and across the country.

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