Senator Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, the senior Republican in the United States Senate, issued the following statement on the announcement of the President's order calling for a review of the Waters of the United States rule:
"As a longtime proponent of the responsible stewardship of our natural resources, I was heartened to see the President fulfill his promise of taking a hard look at burdensome regulations and calling for a review of the EPA's disastrous Waters of the United States rule. This rule represents Washington regulatory bureaucracy at its worst. In crafting this regulation, the previous administration deliberately avoided the protections that Congress built into the rulemaking process to ensure the consideration of economic impacts and may have even violated the Anti-Lobbying Act in 'astroturfing' fabricated public support for its position. The end result was a disastrous outcome that threatened to extend the federal government's heavy-handed control over even small ponds and irrigation ditches on Utah's family farms and ranches. I will continue to use my position in the Senate to push back against the overreaching federal bureaucracy."
Senator Hatch has long been an advocate for reform of the regulatory bureaucracy. He has played a key role in every major regulatory reform effort for the past 38 years, including as an original cosponsor of the 1981 Regulatory Reform Act and as an author of the 1995 Comprehensive Regulatory Reform Act while serving as Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.