Lawmakers push EPA for more time on water rule
Industry groups and more than a dozen GOP senators are urging the Obama administration to reconsider its plan to assert regulatory authority over many of the nation’s streams and wetlands.
They say the proposed rule hurts economic activity and oversteps legal bounds.
The senators are faulting the Environmental Protection Agency for announcing a proposed rule before the government’s peer-reviewed scientific assessment was complete. In a letter to EPA chief Gina McCarthy, they are calling on the government to withdraw the proposed regulation or give the public more time to review the plan.
The senators’ move puts them among several groups — from farmers to Western governors worried about drought management — in expressing concern about a long-running environmental issue.
The letter was led by Pennsylvania Sen. Patrick Toomey.
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