Washington, D.C. — Tonight, Rep. Mike Bost (IL-12) voted for the Regulatory Integrity Protection Act of 2015, which would scrap the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s Waters of the United States rule and require that a replacement be drafted.  The House-passed bill would stop the EPA rule from expanding its federal regulatory power to cover most of our nation’s waters - including ditches, pipes, watersheds, and farmland ponds.

“If the Washington bureaucrats get their way, Southern Illinois’ proud agricultural heritage could be put at risk,” said Rep. Bost.  “The EPA’s unprecedented power grab over America’s waters would upend the balanced, federal-state partnership that has regulated U.S. waters for over 40 years under the Clean Water Act.  By getting Washington out of the way and building upon past successes in making our waterways healthier, we can provide our farmers the certainty they need to grow.  That’s why I am pleased my House colleagues joined me in telling the EPA ‘enough is enough.’”

When developing the new proposed rule, the agencies must take into consideration:

• All of the comments received on the rule;

• The economic analysis of the rule; and

• The connectivity study which was used as a basis for the rule.