Press Releases

Opening remarks, as prepared, of Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee Chairman Mike Collins (R-GA) from today’s hearing, entitled, “America Builds: Clean Water Act Permitting and Project Delivery”:

For over fifty years, the Clean Water Act (CWA) has functioned to improve the quality of rivers, lakes, and streams throughout the country, including in my home state of Georgia. Back in 1972, when Congress passed the CWA, it recognized the importance of a federal-state partnership as crucial to improving water quality, and to providing a regulatory system that communities could realistically follow.

While the Clean Water Act has had many successes in maintaining and improving water quality for the benefits of citizens and industries nationwide, it unfortunately has also been used to slow or stop progress on important projects.

The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has begun this Congress by focusing on the theme “America Builds,” because we know how important it is to the well-being of our country that we remain a world leader in our transportation networks, infrastructure construction, and economic development.

The Clean Water Act is one of the most consequential laws that our country has, and it is important to ensure that it is being used to balance the goals of water quality with ensuring project completion, improving supply chain networks, and delivering economic prosperity. In short, to let America build, the Clean Water Act needs to work.

States, manufacturers, energy producers, cities, farmers, builders, homeowners, utilities, and many others rely on a Clean Water Act permitting process that is easy to understand, easy to follow, and easy to implement. Unfortunately, too often these groups we refer to as regulated communities are left in the dark or actively undermined by increased regulation under the CWA by trial lawyers looking to make a buck, entrenched bureaucrats who don’t have the country’s best interests at heart, and administrations who bend the knee to radical environmental activists.

Now is the time to revisit the Clean Water Act, to ensure that it puts America first. To do this, we need to hear from those most affected by the law in order to know how we can improve our regulatory environment, without decreasing protections for water quality.

President Trump has recognized the importance of unleashing our nation’s natural resources, ramping up energy production, and maintaining our physical infrastructure. These priorities will enhance the Trump Administration’s ability to pursue an America first agenda that lets America build.

As the Chairman of the Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee I am looking forward to working with my colleagues to ensure excellence in the transportation and infrastructure space and furthering the President’s goals.

Today’s hearing marks an opportunity to do so by hearing from our witnesses on how to return the Clean Water Act to its goal of protecting our waterbodies and allowing important projects to get done.

Click here for more information from today’s hearing, including video and witness testimony.