By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Northern Missouri Congressman Sam Graves claims the Biden Administration is subverting a United States Supreme Court ruling as it implements new rules regulating the country’s waterways.
Graves, a Republican, accuses the administration of refusing to follow the Supreme Court ruling on Waters of the United States.
“In my opinion, they are not. They are ignoring the Supreme Court,” Graves tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “The administration needs to listen to what the Supreme Court said when it comes to WOTUS. What they’re proposing is, the administration, it’s a taking. You’re taking the use of that property from individuals.”
Graves claims the EPA has refused to turn over guidance documents on how to rule on WOTUS in wake of the Supreme Court decision. Graves says the administration needs to fall in line with the Sackett v. EPA ruling that the federal government can only regulate wetlands with a “continuous surface connection” to a body of water, such as a river or lake.
Graves says how the EPA responds will have real consequences for individuals.
“You hear all of this talk, too, about how WOTUS exempts farmers out,” Graves says. “That is simply not the case, because we’re seeing farmers being cited all over the country and fined all over the country. It’s based on a subjective, many subjective definitions of various aspects of Waters of the U.S., of WOTUS. It’s very frustrating that we continue to have to deal with this.”
Graves says he assumed the issue was decided when the Supreme Court ruled on WOTUS, ending a back-and-forth that began during the presidency of Barack Obama. The EPA first proposed WOTUS during the Obama Administration. The proposed rule was immediately challenged in court and never went into effect.
“The Trump Administration reversed many of the things that the Obama Administration did when it came to WOTUS,” Graves says. “And then, what happen was the Biden Administration came right back along and then reversed many of the things that the Trump Administration did.”
Graves claims the EPA has not only refused to abide by the Supreme Court decision, but has refused to release its documentation pertaining to the re-writing of WOTUS.
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