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Rep. Kristi Noem today announced that she has helped introduce H.R. 4965, bipartisan legislation to prevent the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) from over-stepping their authority to regulate water in South Dakota and the United States.

“Folks in South Dakota are well aware of what increased government oversight and regulation means for them: more hoops to jump through and increased costs,” said Rep. Noem. “The guidance being drafted by the EPA and the Corps goes beyond their authority under the Clean Water Act and could result in an unprecedented intrusion of the government on our private land as well as increased costs and job loss. This legislation will prevent this or any similar guidance from being implemented and force the agencies to go back to the drawing board.”

The EPA and the Corps are currently finalizing guidance for the Clean Water Act (CWA). The guidance could expand the EPA and the Corps’ authority to include ditches, intermittent streams, ponds, stock dams and other common features in South Dakota and across the country.

Last year, Rep. Noem joined over a hundred of her colleagues in a bipartisan letterto the EPA and Corps voicing concerns with the guidance and affirming that statutory changes to the CWA must be done legislatively through Congress. In both the 110th and 111th Congresses, there were legislative opportunities for the government to expand jurisdiction under the CWA. Both times, Congress did not pass that legislation, and this guidance represents an attempt to subvert the authority of Congress.

The Bill was introduced Friday, April 27 by Rep. John Mica [FL-7] and is co-sponsored by: Rep. Bob Gibbs [OH-18],  Rep. Frank Lucas [OK-3], Rep. Kristi Noem [SD], Rep. Collin Peterson [MN-7] and Rep. Nick Rahall [WV-3].