Smith finds 'irony' in EPA's polluting of river as it finalized water rule

U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), chairman of the Science, Space and Technology Committee, issued a statement on Thursday slamming the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Waters of the U.S. Rule, which had been set to go into effect this week.

A federal judge in North Dakota blocked the rule from taking effect this week, and Smith said the recent Gold King Mine spill, in which the EPA accidentally released 3 million gallons of toxic water into the Animas River, is one reason to call the rule into question.

“The EPA’s vastly unpopular Waters of the U.S. rule would begin a new era of government control over private property,” Smith said. “Over the last year and a half, the EPA has continually ignored the legitimate concerns of states, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, farmers and landowners who will be impacted.”

“The irony of this rule is not lost on millions of Americans. While the agency has been frantically working to regulate the trickle of small streams in Americans' backyards, the EPA has failed at its core mission to protect the environment and is responsible for a toxic spill that polluted waterways impacting at least three different states,” said Smith. “The Waters of the U.S. rule should be halted until EPA can clean up its act and get its priorities in order.”