EPA responds to SBA Advocacy office on WOTUS
October 02, 2014 | 08:59 PM
As Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy traveled to Milwaukee today to tour small businesses focused on clean water, EPA responded to a statement Thursday from the Small Business Administration’s Advocacy Office that EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers should withdraw the Waters of the United States rule.
In comments filed on the rule on Wednesday, the SBA Small Advocacy Office said that the rule would have a significant impact on small business and that the agencies used the wrong baseline for their Regulatory Flexibility Act certification.
The SBA Advocacy Office also recommended that EPA conduct a Small Business Advocacy Review panel before proceeding any further with this rulemaking. But the advocacy office also noted that it is an independent office within SBA “so our views do not necessarily reflect those of SBA or the administration.”
But EPA said in a statement that WOTUS “is a definition and creates no new requirements for small businesses or any others.”
EPA also noted that the Office of Management and Budget, the Justice Department and the Council on Environmental Quality agreed that certification of the proposed rule under the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act is “fully consistent with the law and past practice.”
“Eighty percent of U.S. small business owners favor including small streams and headwaters in federal clean water protections,” EPA said, noting that it had convened a roundtable with the Small Business Administration and small businesses before the proposal was published.
EPA also said it is working with SBA now to convene a second small business round table to solicit input on the proposal to ensure that the final rule protects clean water and jobs without creating regulatory burdens.
“We have held hundreds of meetings across the country with small businesses, agricultural groups and other stakeholders,” EPA said. “And we are committed to listening to the hundreds of thousands of comments raised during this period, so we can finalize a rule that provides certainty, follows the law and the science and protects our precious water resources.”
“Clean water is just as much about healthy economies as it is about healthy people,” EPA continued.
“Our proposal will ensure that the thousands of businesses across the country, ranging from hunting and fishing to the high tech sector, continue to have access to clean water that they depend on. And it will keep water bodies healthy and make them as resilient as possible to climate impacts so communities are more attractive to companies looking to invest. When we protect waterways, we free up businesses and communities to invest their dollars on other resources rather than cleaning up polluted waterways.”
The American Sustainable Business Council issued a statement today questioning the SBA Advocacy Office’s comments.
“The SBA Advocacy comments submitted on the proposed water rule do not represent the views of most small businesses as shown in recent independent polling,” ASBC CEO David Levine said in a news release.
“Once again, it appears that SBA Advocacy is arguing that polluting industries have the right to externalize their pollution and negatively impact the well-being of downstream businesses and the communities they serve.”
In Milwaukee, McCarthy’s schedule included a visit to the Global Water Center, the physical hub of Southeastern Wisconsin’s water technology and a visit to Lakefront Brewery, which is part of the Brewers for Clean Water Campaign.
On Monday, McCarthy delivered the keynote speech at the Water Environment Federation’s Annual Technical Exhibition and Conference in New Orleans. In that speech she said that the presence of toxins from algae in Lake Erie that contaminated the water supply in Toledo this summer “should be a wake-up call. Our health, our economy, and our way of life depend on clean water.”
▪ U.S. Small Business Administration — Definition of ‘Waters of the United States’ Under the Clean Water Act
▪ — Fact Sheet
▪ Environmental Protection Agency — McCarthy WEFTEC Keynote Remarks
In comments filed on the rule on Wednesday, the SBA Small Advocacy Office said that the rule would have a significant impact on small business and that the agencies used the wrong baseline for their Regulatory Flexibility Act certification.
The SBA Advocacy Office also recommended that EPA conduct a Small Business Advocacy Review panel before proceeding any further with this rulemaking. But the advocacy office also noted that it is an independent office within SBA “so our views do not necessarily reflect those of SBA or the administration.”
But EPA said in a statement that WOTUS “is a definition and creates no new requirements for small businesses or any others.”
EPA also noted that the Office of Management and Budget, the Justice Department and the Council on Environmental Quality agreed that certification of the proposed rule under the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act is “fully consistent with the law and past practice.”
“Eighty percent of U.S. small business owners favor including small streams and headwaters in federal clean water protections,” EPA said, noting that it had convened a roundtable with the Small Business Administration and small businesses before the proposal was published.
EPA also said it is working with SBA now to convene a second small business round table to solicit input on the proposal to ensure that the final rule protects clean water and jobs without creating regulatory burdens.
“We have held hundreds of meetings across the country with small businesses, agricultural groups and other stakeholders,” EPA said. “And we are committed to listening to the hundreds of thousands of comments raised during this period, so we can finalize a rule that provides certainty, follows the law and the science and protects our precious water resources.”
“Clean water is just as much about healthy economies as it is about healthy people,” EPA continued.
“Our proposal will ensure that the thousands of businesses across the country, ranging from hunting and fishing to the high tech sector, continue to have access to clean water that they depend on. And it will keep water bodies healthy and make them as resilient as possible to climate impacts so communities are more attractive to companies looking to invest. When we protect waterways, we free up businesses and communities to invest their dollars on other resources rather than cleaning up polluted waterways.”
The American Sustainable Business Council issued a statement today questioning the SBA Advocacy Office’s comments.
“The SBA Advocacy comments submitted on the proposed water rule do not represent the views of most small businesses as shown in recent independent polling,” ASBC CEO David Levine said in a news release.
“Once again, it appears that SBA Advocacy is arguing that polluting industries have the right to externalize their pollution and negatively impact the well-being of downstream businesses and the communities they serve.”
In Milwaukee, McCarthy’s schedule included a visit to the Global Water Center, the physical hub of Southeastern Wisconsin’s water technology and a visit to Lakefront Brewery, which is part of the Brewers for Clean Water Campaign.
On Monday, McCarthy delivered the keynote speech at the Water Environment Federation’s Annual Technical Exhibition and Conference in New Orleans. In that speech she said that the presence of toxins from algae in Lake Erie that contaminated the water supply in Toledo this summer “should be a wake-up call. Our health, our economy, and our way of life depend on clean water.”
▪ U.S. Small Business Administration — Definition of ‘Waters of the United States’ Under the Clean Water Act
▪ — Fact Sheet
▪ Environmental Protection Agency — McCarthy WEFTEC Keynote Remarks
