Washington, D.C. - Congresswoman Elise Stefanik today released the following statement on the Supreme Court’s ruling in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency. The ruling limits the authority of the Environmental Protection Agency in regulating certain bodies of water that qualify as “Waters of the United States” (WOTUS) under the Biden Administration’s revised Clean Water Act.
“Today is a great day for farmers and families across Upstate New York and the North Country. The Supreme Court’s ruling is a critical check on the federal government's overreach and the infringement upon the rights of private property owners.
“For years, the Biden Administration has subjected American landowners to a plethora of burdensome, draconian federal regulatory practices that severely limit the freedom of owning and controlling land. Our hardworking farmers and landowners, who contribute immensely to our society every single day, deserve to be free from Biden’s unconstitutional WOTUS provision.
“A year ago, my colleagues and I signed an amicus brief to challenge Biden’s overreaching WOTUS rule, and today, the Supreme Court concretized what we’ve known all along. Since my first term in Congress, I have been a staunch advocate against expanding the scope of WOTUS and putting more power into the hands of the federal government.”
The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Sackett family, Idaho landowners who wanted to build a home on a residential plot but were told they could not because construction would violate the Clean Water Act. The Supreme Court stated that the EPA’s interpretation of wetlands was inconsistent with the text of the Clean Water Act.
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