The EPA is extending its authority over streams and wetlands:
Two Republican lawmakers on the House Science Committee are accusing the Environmental Protection Agency of pushing through a rule that could potentially expand the agency’s regulatory authority over streams, wetlands and other bodies under the Clean Water Act.
Reps. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, and Chris Stewart, R-Utah, on Friday sent a letter to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy expressing concern over the proposed draft rule, which they say would give the agency “unprecedented control over private property across the nation.”
Unfortunately, the article doesn’t give enough detail really to understand what the EPA is doing, but based on the EPA’s recent record, it’s safe to assume it’s outrageous.
But what horrifies me, yet again, is not the detail of the EPA’s action, but the whole notion of it. The EPA is unilaterally extending its own authority, and the only check on its ability to do so is an impotent public comment period. A government agency is granting itself new powers, and the legislative branch has nothing to do with it. No, worse than that, the legislative branch is powerless to stop it
The rule of law in America has truly gone off the rails.
Internet Scofflaw 