Graves: New president means new EPA director and that's good for America

(From Sixth District Congressman Sam Graves)

President Obama’s EPA had a radical agenda. And bureaucrats at the agency were willing to do whatever they could to force that agenda on the American people.

Fortunately for rural America, a new President means a new EPA. It also means we have the chance to wipe away some of the most outrageous regulations of the Obama era.

In February, I sent a letter to President Trump asking him to take aim at the worst examples of federal overreach from Obama's EPA. That EPA wrote anti-coal regulations that threatened to shut down power plants across the country, it raised energy costs for countless American families, and it forced a rule known as Waters of the U.S. down all of our throats.

Remember WOTUS? The EPA rule that allowed federal bureaucrats to come to our homes and take control over even the smallest bodies of water – including ponds and streams – on our private property. Fortunately, the President took a much needed step towards repealing that rule last week.

WOTUS was the best example of President Obama's out-of-control EPA. And like the rest of that EPA, we're glad to see it go out the door with the entire previous administration.

I truly believe that this planet is God's gift to us. And how we steward it is our gift back. The EPA has a legitimate role to play in ensuring our environmental concerns are balanced with the economic realities of our country. But we need people at the EPA who understand how rural America works. And we need people who understand that we need balance here. I'm looking forward to having just that under this new administration.