Jackie Speier: “I am outraged, but not surprised, that the political appointees in the EPA's Washington, D.C., office have decided that…”

“I am outraged, but not surprised, that the political appointees in the EPA's Washington, D.C., office have decided that the Redwood City salt ponds in my district do not include waters of the United States under the Clean Water Act. This administration has completely hijacked the jurisdictional process away from the experts on the ground, putting politics ahead of science. No surprise. Stunningly, after experts at the EPA's Region 9 had drafted a determination in 2016 that came to a completely opposite conclusion, the EPA trampled on that evidence-based determination. The administration was, no doubt, counting on the fact that the draft would not be released to the public. Well, I am not willing to allow that to happen. Let the Record reflect that, after being designated an EPA special case, Region 9 experts conducted an extensive review of the property and finally concluded that 1,270 acres within the Redwood City salt ponds property are, in fact, waters of the United States for the following reasons. First, the tidal channels within the property were part of the traditionally navigable waters of the San Francisco Bay and were not converted to ``fast land'' or ``dry solid upland'' prior to the enactment of the Clean Water Act. This is because waters that have been severed from tidal influence but are regularly inundated are not fast lands.…”