This week, U.S. Senators Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., and David Perdue, R-Ga., along with 45 Senate co-sponsors, introduced a joint resolution disapproving President Obama’s ill-conceived rule known as “Waters of the United States” that allows the federal government to regulate nearly all private and state waters in the United States, including thousands of streams, creeks, wetlands, ponds and ditches.

The Senate resolution would overturn the rule and send a message to the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers that they failed to address concerns raised by farmers, ranchers, manufacturers and small businesses in Georgia and across the country.
 
“This is yet another step in our fight against the administration’s ‘Waters of the United States’ rule, which allows federal bureaucrats to assert control over thousands of streams, creeks, wetlands, ponds and ditches throughout the country,” said Senator Isakson. “This latest overreach by the EPA will provide the administration, as well as environmental groups, with a powerful tool to delay and prevent development and land use activities on property owned by homeowners, farms, small businesses and municipalities. This rule harms not only landowners, but our entire agriculture industry in Georgia.”
 
“Georgia farmers and landowners are outraged that Washington is trying to regulate how they maintain streams, ditches, and runoff water on their land,” said Senator Perdue, a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee. “The EPA’s ‘Waters of the United States’ rule is a blatant government overreach that is causing confusion, uncertainty, and unnecessary red tape. For example, in Gwinnett County, nearly 3,000 miles of roads, 1,500 miles of streams, and 1,400 miles of drainage ditches would be subject to this new regulation from Washington. It is time to put an end to this harmful rule that threatens the livelihood of Georgia’s farmers, agribusinesses, and rural communities.”