Department of the interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. GOSAR. Madam Chair, I strongly oppose the gentlewoman's amendment as it seeks to strip a commonsense provision included in the base bill that will protect the American people from the EPA's new waters of the U.S. regulation, commonly referred to as WOTUS.

WOTUS is a terrible Agency proposal that will have disastrous effects and economic consequences for agriculture, small business, property owners, municipalities, and other water users throughout the country.

This job-killing, overreaching water grab being imposed by Washington bureaucrats is a dream killer for future generations and local economies. The EPA claims this new regulation was

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shaped by public input; yet we recently learned that the EPA used taxpayer dollars to unleash a propaganda campaign in an attempt to rally comments and support for this WOTUS regulation, despite the Anti-Lobbying Act which bans such actions.
Furthermore, States and local governments that have traditionally managed these waterways and activities were not included in drafting the WOTUS regulation. The Agency failed to comply with the Regulatory Flexibility Act as required by Federal law and consider the new impact that the WOTUS regulations would have on small businesses.

The EPA claims this rule is grounded in law; yet this overreaching regulation contradicts prior Supreme Court decisions by expanding Agency control over 60 percent of our country's streams and millions of acres of wetlands that were previously nonjurisdictional.

Despite claiming the WOTUS rule reduces Agency jurisdiction, the final regulation imposes new regulations for navigable waters and their tributaries, potholes, ditches, bays, and even waters that are next to rivers and lakes.

The new WOTUS regulation has been built on a foundation of pseudoscience, deception, and lawlessness. This overreach is so extreme that 24 Members of the President's own party joined Members in the House in passing legislation in May calling for the formal withdrawal of the new WOTUS regulation.

For these reasons and more, I strongly oppose the gentlewoman's amendment and urge its defeat.

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Mr. GOSAR. Mr. Chairman, I rise to offer a commonsense amendment to the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act.

My amendment will protect education, grazing, agriculture, energy, housing interests, as well as assist with preventing dangerous wildfires by blocking the Fish and Wildlife Service from listing the Sonoran desert tortoise as an endangered or threatened species. A listing decision for the Sonoran desert tortoise is expected this fiscal year.

Of the potential 26.8 million acres that will likely be designated for critical habitat due to such a listing, 15 million acres are located in the United States, and nearly 4.5 million acres are State trust land.

State trust land revenues, which are currently enjoyed by 13 beneficiaries, of which K-12 education is the largest proportional share of those moneys, will be severely impacted.

If the Sonoran desert tortoise is listed, these acres of trust land will become less valuable for investment as they are burdened with a federal regulatory nexus. Without this amendment, schools that have already undergone significant budget cuts will see even less money flowing into their educational coffers.

The Sonoran desert tortoise is also of substantial concern to many different types of industry, as its habitat falls within urban development corridors as well as on rural and agricultural landscapes.

Listing the species as threatened or endangered will negatively impact commercial, housing and energy developers as well as the agriculture and grazing industries.

Specifically, a listing would be detrimental for 273 different grazing allotments and would jeopardize nearly 6 million acres used for livestock grazing.

Mining will also suffer, as the BLM listed 9,675 new mining claims from 1990 to 2002, 36 percent of which fall within the Sonoran desert tortoise's habitat.

Any ground and vegetation-disturbing activities, including fire suppression activities and restorative treatments, would also be negatively impacted by a listing decision for the species.

Solar energy would also likely be harmed, as large solar projects on desert floors are considered a potential threat to the Sonoran desert tortoise.

My amendment will also encourage significant voluntary efforts and financial contributions for the Sonoran desert tortoise to continue, many of which are already underway at the local level.

Important local conservation efforts began for the species in 2010, and a Candidate Conservation Agreement was recently signed by 15 different agencies in February.

Should the Sonoran desert tortoise become listed, these voluntary efforts and moneys will dissipate as local property owners, ranchers, and developers will no longer have any incentive to work with the Federal and State wildlife management agencies on conservation efforts for the species.

My amendment is supported by the Public Lands Council, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, Americans for Limited Government, the Arizona Cattlemen's Association, the Arizona Farm Bureau, the Arizona Mining Association, the Home Builders Association of Central Arizona, and numerous other organizations that are strongly opposed to this listing.

I thank the chair and the ranking member for their tireless efforts to produce this bill.

Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. GOSAR. Mr. Chairman, the Sonoran desert tortoise is part of a

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growing problem involving large settlements with the environmental groups who sue the Fish and Wildlife Service's regulatory protections with regard to a large number of different wildlife and plant species.
These multi-district litigation settlements, commonly known as ``sue and settle tactics,'' force the Fish and Wildlife Service to make listing decisions on several hundred species, often with little or no scientific data supporting these listings and without public input to this process.

This possible listing is a result of a lawsuit filed by a few special interest groups aimed at stifling development and has nothing to do with the tortoise.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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Mr. GOSAR. Mr. Chairman, I rise to offer one final amendment to the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act.

The amendment is simple. It prohibits the EPA from providing funding to the United Nations Environment Programme. The United Nations Environment Programme, or UNEP--I would call it inept--has a history of taking unusual and extreme policy positions, including advocating for population control.

The United Nations is typically funded in the State Department's budget under contributions to international organizations, or CIL. The funds appropriated by this act are meant to be used domestically, not as a slush fund to give to programs at the United Nations.

I will quickly highlight some of the names of the UNEP initiatives that the EPA spent millions of dollars on. One is to promote environmental sound management worldwide. Another one is UNEP Regional Program, Climate Benefits, Asia Pacific. There is even one called Russian Federation Support to the National Program of Action for the Protection of the Arctic. This last one is money that goes specifically to the Russian cause.

I will read from the EPA's own Web site the description of this program:

This project centers on protection of the Arctic environment in Russia.

This work will cover three broad areas:

Number one, implementation of Russia's national plan of action for protection of the Arctic marine environment from anthropogenic pollution;

Number two, hazardous chemical management;

And, three, climate change mitigation adaptation and awareness.

So let me get this straight. In addition to the billions we contribute to the United Nations through the CIO account, the EPA is funneling millions of tax dollars to this United Nations program, which then gives the money to Russia, who then uses it to implement a Russian national plan and for climate change mitigation, adaptation, and awareness.

U.S. taxpayers, do I need to say anything further why we need to stop this? Let's keep the United States Environmental Protection Agency focused on issues within the United States. Our favorite out-of-control agency need not be concerned with the Asia-Pacific region or with Russia.

I urge my colleagues to adopt this commonsense amendment that is endorsed by the Americans for Limited Government, the Eagle Forum, the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste, and the Yavapai County Board of Supervisors.

I thank the chairman and ranking member for their tireless efforts in producing this bill.

I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. GOSAR. Mr. Chair, with an over $18 trillion debt, when is enough enough? If we are going to talk about foreign expenditures of dollars, let's put it in the State Department budget and make sure we have an open and honest conversation, but it does not belong here. We have to start concentrating on what is important to the United States, not Russia. I guess that is Putin's kind of game is that we clean up his messes for him.

I ask everybody to adopt this legislation.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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