Nick Rahall for U.S. Congress

July 10, 2014

U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall, D-WVa., welcomed the approval from a House subcommittee on a funding bill that would bar the EPA from implementing a “raft of regulations” threatening to undercut West Virginia’s economy.

“The message to the EPA in this bill is plain and simple: you cannot continue to churn out regulation upon regulation without regard for their effect on our economy and the jobs of our citizens,” Rahall said. “This bill is a wrench in the gears of EPA’s regulatory perpetual motion machine. But the provisions in this legislation are only temporary, and I’ll continue to fight to pass permanent solutions.”

The Fiscal Year 2015 Interior and Environment Appropriations bill, which was approved by an Appropriations Subcommittee today, contains provisions that would stop a list of controversial proposed EPA regulations, including rules to cap carbon emissions from future and existing coal-fired power plants. The bill would prevent EPA from finalizing a new rule to redefine “waters of the United States” (WOTUS), expanding the places subject to Clean Water Act permitting. As well, it would block proposed changes to the definitions of “fill” and “stream buffer zone,” changes that would impede coal mining.

“Our miners, our farmers, our builders and developers, and our small business owners are fed up with the power-hungry EPA. I have farmers back home worried that the EPA is going to swoop down on them for having puddles in their fields. I have families worried about paying the electric bill because EPA’s actions threaten to raise their rates. I have miners who just want to go to work and earn a living being tormented by the permitting nightmare created by this EPA. It’s wrong, wrong, wrong, and it has stop,” Rahall added.

The next step for the Fiscal Year 2015 Interior and Environment Appropriations bill is to be considered by the full Appropriations Committee before going to the House floor for a vote.