Sen. Cramer: Senate confirms Head of EPA Water Policy Who Will Visit ND for WOTUS Listening Session

Press Release

U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) committee, issued the following statement on voting today to confirm Radhika Fox as the Assistant Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator for Water:

"As a state with unique terrain in the heart of the Prairie Pothole Region, North Dakota is greatly affected by the EPA's water regulations, which Mrs. Fox will now oversee. Like EPA Administrator Michael Regan, I support Mrs. Fox's nomination, knowing we have not and will not always agree on policy, but accepting her pledge to work in a collaborative fashion. She made a commitment to me to hold one of her Waters of the United States listening sessions in North Dakota, where she can hear directly from our stakeholders about why North Dakotans supported the Trump Administration's Navigable Waters Protection Rule. Now that she is confirmed, I look forward to facilitating that opportunity for North Dakotans and working with her to advance our state's water priorities."

Fox's confirmation follows the EPA announcing last week it will repeal the Trump Administration's Waters of the United States (WOTUS) regulation known as the Navigable Waters Protection Rule, a decision Senator Cramer expressed disapproval of in a statement. The senator questioned Mrs. Fox during her confirmation hearing in May, where he secured her commitment to hold a Waters of the United States (WOTUS) listening session in North Dakota. Earlier this month Senator Cramer hosted EPA Administrator Regan on a trip to Bismarck and Mandan to meet with North Dakotans for a discussion on the agency's environmental regulations.

These events and comments align with the senator's efforts to use his seat on EPW to advocate for North Dakota's environmental priorities, which include holding hearings with testimony from North Dakota and hosting EPA leaders in the state to hear from his constituents. Specific to WOTUS, Senator Cramer convened a hearing on WOTUS as Chair of the EPW Subcommittee on Water, which included testimony from North Dakota's Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring. In the fall of 2019, Senator Cramer hosted then-EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler for events in North Dakota which included a WOTUS roundtable.

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