North Dakota Senator Kevin Cramer hosted Environmental Protection Agency Assistant Administrator for Water Radhika Fox and Acting-Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works Jaime Pinkham in Bismarck for a Waters of the U.S. listening session. EPA will be holding ten virtual listening sessions as they work to craft a new WOTUS rule, this is the only in-person listening session.
“North Dakotans live and work in the heart of the Prairie Pothole Region and have long been subjected to the regulatory ping pong of Waters of the U.S. regulations. It was never the intent of the Clean Water Act to override states and North Dakota’s leadership against the 2015 rule proves the limits of the federal government. It shouldn’t be this hard to identify what is navigable water and what is not. I’m grateful the EPA upheld their commitment to hold an in-person listening session in North Dakota to hear from farmers, landowners, and stakeholders. I hope the input they provide will make a lasting impact on the agency as they work towards an enduring rule,” said Senator Cramer.
“If we could get to a point where we talk about certainty and we talk about clarity, and we make sure we’re respecting states’ rights and we’re respecting how we need to operate, function, manage, and provide for our communities, our state, and our nation and be a part of the solution, then we’re talking the right language,” said North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring at the listening session. “We have a great story to tell in the United States of America, and North Dakota is smack-dab in the middle of that conversation and that story.”
Following the listening session and press conference, the senator and Assistant Administrator Fox toured a rural water supply plant and met with the North Dakota Rural Water Systems Association. They discussed drinking water and wastewater programs under EPA.
Cramer Office Press Release
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