House Panel Asks for `True Costs’ of Water Quality Rules

April 13, 2000

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Larry Combest (R-TX) and Rep. Charles Stenholm (TX), the ranking committee Democrat, want the General Accounting Office to find out the true costs to agriculture and forestry from water quality regulations proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Combest and Stenholm are concerned that the EPA has not attempted to undertake a legitimate analysis jointly with USDA and instead "vastly understated" the true cost of water quality planning and management regulations regarding total maximum daily loads (TMDLs).

"With the potential for a tremendous impact on rural America and the agencies that serve it, we believe that an impartial entity such as the General Accounting Office (an investigative arm of Congress) should be involved in reviewing this issue," they said. EPA estimates the total cost to states would not exceed $25 million annually, but USDA has projected that just one element of the TMDLs would cost $100 million a year.

The congressmen noted that they hope several pending congressional requests at USDA for a comprehensive review of the potential costs will receive adequate resources and an accurate analysis and "send to Congress an accurate analysis of the true impact..."