WOTUS: Army Corps Memos Reveal
Dysfunction, Secrecy and Misconduct at EPA,
American Farm Bureau Says
A cache of internal memos that federal regulators
intended to keep private reveals a culture of secrecy,
falsehood and dysfunction that permeated the Waters
of the U.S. rulemaking process.
On July 30, the House Committee on Oversight
and Government Reform released more than 50 pages
of documents in which the Army Corps of Engineers
repeatedly rebuked EPA officials for their abuse
of the rulemaking process in producing the deeply
controversial Waters of the United States rule. The
entire economic analysis used to support the rule,
Army Corps officials wrote, had no basis in either
science or economics.
Corps of Engineers concedes this rule is unworkable.
The Army Corps’ name is on the rule, yet experts
tasked with determining its validity said they wanted
the Corps’ name removed from the economic analysis
used to justify it.
“U.S. Army Assistant Secretary Darcy pleaded
with Congress to keep these memos from the X