Montana Farm Bureau Comments On GAO Decision About EPA Breaking The Law

The Montana Farm Bureau is applauding the legal opinion released today by the U.S. Government Accountability Office that found the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) broke the law with its social media and grassroots lobbying campaign advocating for its own Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rule. “It’s rewarding to see a government office has found a government agency to be in violation of the law,” noted Montana Farm Bureau President Bob Hanson who is currently in Washington, D.C. for an American Farm Bureau board meeting. “At least there is still someone in government who is watching what’s going on and who recognizes when an agency has overstepped its authority.”

Hanson noted that during his time in the nation’s capital this week he plans to meet with Montana’s senators and representative to urge them to prohibit this now-declared unlawful rule. “It’s appalling that a government agency would use biased social media posts and promotion to trample the right of its opponents. Congress needs to step up and do the right thing by stopping the implementation of WOTUS.”

American Farm Bureau President Bob Stallman noted, “It’s clear from this report that EPA orchestrated this matter in a biased fashion. Now it’s up to Congress to clean up this mess by including a corrective measure in the omnibus bill now taking shape on Capitol Hill.”

“We applaud U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Chairman Jim Inhofe for asking GAO to conduct this investigation. The GAO findings vindicate those, like the American Farm Bureau Federation, who have claimed all along that EPA’s tactics advocating for this rule stepped past the bounds of proper agency rulemaking,” noted Stallman. “EPA was focused only on promoting the rule rather than hearing good-faith concerns from a wide cross-section of Americans. The public deserves better when important matters of public policy are at stake.”

 

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