Combest, Stenholm Call on EPA to Withdraw Rule

June 28, 2000

Two days before the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed Total Maximum

Daily Load (TMDL) rules take effect, the House Committee on Agriculture, led by Chairman Larry Combest (R_TX), today renewed its for the EPA to withdraw the controversial regulations.

"We have heard from farmers, ranchers, forestland owners, small businesses and local governments from all over the country opposing both the substance of these rules and the process by which they have been developed," Combest said. "At this point the burden is on the EPA to change the strong sentiment against its rules that prevails in Congress and throughout the country,"

Between the House and Senate at least a dozen hearings have been held on these rules. Twenty public forums around the country have attracted thousands of concerned citizens. Six pieces of legislation have been introduced in Congress to address these rules including H.R. 4502, sponsored by Combest and Ranking Member Charles Stenholm (D-TX). Nearly half of the Members of the House have cosponsored one or more of these bills. The House has already passed appropriations language requiring the EPA to work through the many issues

surrounding its proposed rules. Nevertheless, EPA still appears determined to stay its present course.

"The EPA has clearly not done enough to convince the public that these rules are good policy, nor has the EPA adequately addressed the technical, financial and scientific issues surrounding the rules," said Stenholm. "If the EPA goes forward with these rules, without public consensus or solid scientific justification, they should be ready to face strenuous opposition from Congress and elsewhere."