Press Releases

WASHINGTON – Today Rep. Ron Estes (R-Kansas) released the following statement condemning the Biden administration's newly revised Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule. 

"The EPA is once again ignoring common sense at the expense of Kansas farmers, ranchers and energy producers," said Rep. Estes. "This new WOTUS rule clearly violates the Supreme Court's decision, highlighting the Biden administration's prerogative to simply ignore the courts in pursuit of their own extreme agenda.

"The administration's actions also disregard Americans by shutting them out of a comment period for this rule – yet another example of the appalling federal overreach of this administration."

Background:
On May 25, 2023, the United States Supreme Court ruled against the Biden Administration’s WOTUS rule in Sackett v. EPA, limiting the scope of definition of “waters of the United States.” This forced the Biden Administration to amend their final rule from December 2022 to comply with the decision.

Rep. Estes has worked tirelessly to push back against the harmful WOTUS rule. He voted in favor of the 2018 Farm Bill that repealed the Obama-era rule, joined a letter to EPA Administrator Michael Regan in 2022, spoke out against the rule later that year and voted in favor of a Congressional Review Act (CRA) to overturn WOTUS earlier this year.