Rounds Opening Statement at Subcommittee Hearing in Rapid City

RAPID CITY – U.S. Senator Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Subcommittee on Superfund, Waste Management and Regulatory Oversight, today delivered the following remarks at his hearing entitled, “Oversight of the Impact of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Fish and Wildlife Service Regulations on Citizens’ Private Property Rights.”

 

Remarks as Prepared for Delivery:

The Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Superfund, Waste Management, and Regulatory Oversight is meeting today to conduct a field hearing entitled “Oversight of the Impact of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Fish and Wildlife Service Regulations on Citizens’ Private Property Rights.”

I would like to thank our witnesses for being with us today and I look forward to hearing your testimony.

Throughout this Congress, this subcommittee has conducted systematic oversight of the federal regulatory process to make certain federal regulations are promulgated in a transparent, open process with adequate public participation.

We have held hearings conducting oversight on various aspects of the rulemaking process, including the adequacy of the science the agencies rely on when promulgating regulations, the increasing number of unfunded mandates agencies impose on state and local governments, and the impacts these regulations have on small businesses and state and local governments.

 

Today we will continue our oversight and hear testimony about how Environmental Protection Agency and Fish and Wildlife Service regulations affect citizens’ private property rights. 

 

We will hear about how increasing regulations affect citizens’ ability to use, develop and prosper while working their land. 

 

We will also hear from the agencies as to how they work with the public to assist the public in understanding regulations, as well as offering suggestions as to how this relationship between the agencies and the public can be improved, and how the regulatory process can be improved to minimize the impact of regulations on private land.

 

According to the American Action Forum, since taking office the Obama administration has finalized 2,856 regulations.

 

These regulation have cost the American people nearly $810 billion dollars since 2009.  Of these finalized regulations, 167 of them have come from the Environmental Protection Agency, and have cost American taxpayers $312 billion dollars – nearly half of the total cost of all regulations finalized by this administration.

 

Not only are the costs of these regulations passed on to all citizens, but landowners who bear the burden of complying with many of these regulations have limited resources to comply with these burdensome, costly and complicated regulations.

 

In 2015, the EPA moved forward with finalizing the Waters of the US Rule, broadly expanding the Clean Water Act, which would give the EPA unprecedented authority over significant land masses not currently subject to EPA jurisdiction.

 

This rule creates significant hurdles to normal agricultural operations, and despite the EPA’s claims that the rule will have minimal economic impact, the final rule is contrary to the comments of agriculture groups, the Small Business Administration and numerous state governors and attorneys general.

 

Although the Sixth Circuit Court issued a nationwide stay on the rule, we have heard evidence that the U.S. Army Corps may be moving forward with implementing the WOTUS rule.

 

However, the U.S. court system should not be the primary backstop against overly burdensome rules.  If the EPA worked more closely with landowners, states, and agriculture groups throughout the rulemaking process, the end result would be better rules that minimize the impact and costs on private landowners and American business while still achieving the goal of environmental protection.

 

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is responsible for implementing and enforcing the Endangered Species Act.

 

The Endangered Species Act was enacted by Congress in 1973 with the goal of protecting and recovering endangered and threatened species and their habitats. 

 

There are currently 1,226 species listed as endangered and 367 listed as threatened in the United States under the Endangered Species Act and approximately half of the listed species have 80 percent of their habitat on private land. 

 

While the Fish and Wildlife Service attempts to work with landowners to encourage voluntary species management and conservation, the ESA continues to impede landowner’s ability to utilize and develop their land by imposing significant restrictions on what landowners can do on their own land.

 

Adding to the regulatory maze that landowners face, is the confusion caused by the myriad of lawsuits that can change or stop a regulation from being implemented based on a court’s ruling. 

 

These lawsuits simply add more confusion to an already complex regulatory process. 

 

While lawsuits challenging the WOTUS rule resulted in a nationwide injunction, it was also a lawsuit that has led the Fish and Wildlife Service to review the potential listing of more than 250 species for consideration on the Endangered Species List.

 

It is landowners, and not the federal government, who are the best stewards of their land.

 

However, more often than not, federal agencies impose burdensome, complicated regulations and dictate to landowners what they believe is the best way to conserve our land and our resources.

 

Rather than creating an adversarial relationship, agencies should strive to work in cooperation with landowners towards the shared goal of environmental conservation.

 

Again, I’d like to thank our witnesses for being with us here today and I look forward to hearing your testimony.

 

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