Senate holds hearing on groundwater regulation

The Senate’s Committee on Environment and Public Works held a hearing on April 18 regarding the regulation of groundwater. Recent federal court decisions have paved the way for groundwater to potentially fall under the jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act (CWA). Committee Chairman John Barrasso (R-WY) called it a timely and pressing issue and asked in his opening remarks, “What is the best way to protect groundwater, and what is the appropriate role of the federal government?” Joe Guild, Nevada rancher and treasurer of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, presented testimony, arguing that if the Environmental Protection Agency can regulate discharge into surface water via groundwater, the efforts to prevent and amend the 2015 Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rule will be lost. “The regulation of groundwater has the potential to impact even more cattle operations than the damaging 2015 WOTUS definition,” he said in his testimony. “Regulation [of groundwater] under the Clean Water Act would only lead to unnecessary, duplicative permitting and enforcement, usurping current state authority.” — WLJ