NAHB, other industry groups ask Congress to stop EPA’s expanded reach of Clean Water Act

The National Association of Homebuilders and 200 other organizations, as well as 33 states have asked Congress to stop the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s effort to expand the reach of the Clean Water Act.

The EPA, which historically has applied the act to “navigable” and “interstate” bodies of water, last year proposed to redefine the bodies falling under federal regulatory control to “all tributaries, adjacent waters, wetlands and other waters.”

NAHB and others have objected to those terms as too broad and vague, and have said the new definition could subject ponds, creeks, and ditches on private property to federal oversight and their owners to more red tape.

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