Rob Bishop: “I appreciate my good friend from Colorado and the way he has conducted the debate so far in this rule. I have to admit…”

“I appreciate my good friend from Colorado and the way he has conducted the debate so far in this rule. I have to admit, in closing on this particular bill, that as someone who as a State legislator worked on a complex that dealt with the largest undeveloped river in my district that went through and crossed six different State boundaries before it found its way to the Great Salt Lake, the idea that only the Federal Government can actually solve issues that happen between States or across State boundaries is somewhat almost insulting to the idea of the States. It may be true that in every issue there is always some catalyst that brings it about. The issue in Florida and West Virginia--to which I responded--was a catalyst, but it is not the only situation that has provided the basis for this particular bill. We have a letter from the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry, which has written in support of this bill simply because Louisiana is currently facing a similar threat from the EPA. The Chamber of Commerce strongly opposes several amendments to this piece of legislation, but they also wrote: ``The Clean Water Act grants States the primary responsibility for protecting water quality. However, recent actions by the EPA upset and supplant this partnership with arbitrary Federal power that is being exercised even over States with effective delegated regulatory programs.…”