Key Vote YES on Stopping the EPA’s Latest Property Rights Overreach

As one of our over 6.6 million FreedomWorks activists nationwide, I urge you to contact your representative and ask him or her to vote YES on the Waters of the United States Regulatory Overreach Act, H.R. 5078. Sponsored by Rep. Steve Southerland, this bill would stop another massive overreach of authority by the Environmental Protection Agency that threatens the property rights of thousands of Americans.

The Clean Water Act was passed as a well-intentioned measure to keep America’s navigable waterways from being destroyed by industrial pollution. However, over the years, the Clean Water Act has suffered from classic mission creep, as the EPA has continually pushed the boundaries of what sorts of waterways were under its jurisdiction, and for what purpose.

The EPA’s most recent proposed expansion of the Clean Water Act would extend the agency’s jurisdiction to potentially include features such as seasonal wetlands, dry creek beds, ponds, and ditches. The result would be that the EPA could hold up any development of any kind on any land containing such features, under the pretense of protecting the environment. Unfortunately, the agency has repeatedly demonstrated in the past that it will abuse such authority, even stopping private land owners from building or developing their supposedly sovereign property.

It is for this reason that H.R. 5078 includes broad support from across the country and from both parties – including 120 co-sponsors in the House.

Please contact your representative and ask that he or she vote YES on the Waters of the United States Regulatory Overreach Protection Act. FreedomWorks will count any vote on this bill as a Key Vote when calculating our Economic Freedom Scorecard for 2014. The scorecard is used to determine eligibility for the FreedomFighter Award, which recognizes Members of Congress who consistently vote to support economic freedom.

Sincerely,

Matt Kibbe
President and CEO,
FreedomWorks