Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott and Ag Commissioner Todd Staples Speak Out Against Clean Water Act Guidelines

Two Texas officeholders have voiced their concerns regarding two federal agencies within the state.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott and Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples sent a letter to the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, regarding their belief that the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are overreaching their regulatory authority.

They specifically cite the proposed Clean Water Act guidance document, which the duo says greatly expands the agencies’ regulatory authority, and will produce “overwhelming costs, regulatory uncertainty, and questionable public benefit.”

“The legally dubious significant nexus test adopted by the EPA and the Corps leaves it to field agents to determine, on a case-by-case basis, whether the federal government has authority to regulate a body of water,” the text reads.

“Committing to individual field agents the task of implementing such a nebulous standard grants too much authority to the unaccountable federal bureaucracy and threatens to expand the amount of land under federal regulation beyond what congress intended when it enacted the CWA.”