By BRENT MARTIN

St. Joseph Post

Northern Missouri Congressman Sam
Graves claims the Biden Administration is subverting a United States Supreme
Court ruling as it implements new rules regulating the country’s waterways.

Graves, a Republican, accuses the
administration of refusing to follow the Supreme Court ruling on Waters of the
United States.

“In my opinion, they are not.
They are ignoring the Supreme Court,” Graves tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “The administration
needs to listen to what the Supreme Court said when it comes to WOTUS. What they’re
proposing is, the administration, it’s a taking. You’re taking the use of that
property from individuals.”

Graves claims the EPA has refused
to turn over guidance documents on how to rule on WOTUS in wake of the Supreme
Court decision. Graves says the administration needs to fall in line with the
Sackett v. EPA ruling that the federal government can only regulate wetlands
with a “continuous surface connection” to a body of water, such as a river or
lake.

Graves says how the EPA responds
will have real consequences for individuals.

“You hear all of this talk, too,
about how WOTUS exempts farmers out,” Graves says. “That is simply not the case,
because we’re seeing farmers being cited all over the country and fined all
over the country. It’s based on a subjective, many subjective definitions of
various aspects of Waters of the U.S., of WOTUS. It’s very frustrating that we
continue to have to deal with this.”

Graves says he assumed the issue
was decided when the Supreme Court ruled on WOTUS, ending a back-and-forth that
began during the presidency of Barack Obama. The EPA first proposed WOTUS
during the Obama Administration. The proposed rule was immediately challenged
in court and never went into effect.

“The Trump Administration
reversed many of the things that the Obama Administration did when it came to WOTUS,”
Graves says. “And then, what happen was the Biden Administration came right
back along and then reversed many of the things that the Trump Administration
did.”

Graves claims the EPA has not
only refused to abide by the Supreme Court decision, but has refused to release
its documentation pertaining to the re-writing of WOTUS.

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