02.16.17

Hoeven: President Signs Bill Repealing Stream Buffer Rule

Senator Cosponsored Bipartisan CRA Resolution to Rescind One-Size-Fits-All Regulation

WASHINGTON -- Senator John Hoeven today released the following statement after joining the President as he signed into law bipartisan legislation to repeal the Stream Buffer Rule. Hoeven is an original cosponsor of the legislation, which repealed the rule under the Congressional Review Act (CRA).

“We are pleased that the President has signed into law our legislation to stop the Obama Administration’s Stream Buffer Rule, a one-size-fits-all regulation that threatened to eliminate thousands of mining jobs, decrease state tax revenues and impose higher prices on consumers,” Hoeven said. “I look forward to working with the new administration to continue rolling back burdensome and duplicative regulations and advance a states-first regulatory approach." 

The previous administration finalized the rule in December, which, like the proposed rule, was primarily based on mining practices used in the Appalachian region. The Office of Surface Mining, the agency which wrote the rule, concluded in 2015 that North Dakota “has an effective program with no issues that need corrective action.”

Hoeven hosted Janice Schneider, Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management at the Interior Department, in North Dakota to show her firsthand the negative impact of the agency’s proposed rule and to press for a states-first regulatory approach.

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