Triggers Call for Congressional Review

Kristen M. Fletcher, J.D., LL.M.

The Environmental Protection Agency found itself in muddy political waters in July when it was directed by President Clinton to hurriedly adopt Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) rules in direct defiance of a Congressional effort to block the new regulations.

After months of hearings and speculation on the new EPA regulations regarding the TMDL mandate and how the rules would affect development, industries, and land-use practices, the EPA was scheduled to release the rules by June 30. In an effort to block the implementation of the rules, riders were attached to several congressional bills generally forbidding federal funds in fiscal years 2000 and 2001 from being used to "make a final determination on or implement any new rule relative to the . . . Water Quality Planning and Management Regulations Concerning Total Maximum Daily Load."1 Debate over the provision ranged from statements that the rider will prevent the EPA from overstepping its authority to criticism that the rider is not germane to the underlying bill and puts senators in the position of accepting "the offensive provision or vot[ing] down an appropriations bill containing important funds for disaster relief, humanitarian aid, and national defense."2

While TMDL supporters were condemning Congress for taking a back-door approach to halting the EPA's regulations from taking effect, President Clinton directed the EPA to "rush the rules to completion" before the July 13 deadline for his signature making the bill a law. This move circumvents the Congressional effort to block the issuance of the "new" regulations. Because of the new rider, the EPA will still not be able to fund the enforcement or implementation of the rules until at least October of 2001, unless Congress takes additional action to forward the implementation prior to that time. Some members of Congress have called for a review of the rule under the Congressional Review Act.
 

ENDNOTES

1. See Military Construction Appropriations Act, H.R. 2465.

2. 146 Cong. Rec. S6225, S6236 (Daily ed. June 30, 2000) (statement of Senator Chafee).

University of Mississippi