05.15.25

Hoeven Outlines Efforts with EPA Administrator to Provide Regulatory Certainty, Respect Private Property Rights

Senator Stresses Importance of Improving Grid Reliability & Affordability, Rescinding Overreach by Biden Administration

WASHINGTON – Senator John Hoeven this week urged Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin to provide regulatory certainty to the nation’s energy producers and ensure the federal government respects private property rights. In particular, Hoeven highlighted the importance of:

  • Improving the reliability and affordability of the electrical grid.
    • Hoeven pointed to reports from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) showing that the loss of baseload power, including from the premature retirement of coal-fired electric plants, has undermined grid reliability.
    • The senator urged Zeldin to follow through on rolling back regulatory overreach from the Biden administration, including reining in Biden-era rules like the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) and Clean Power Plan 2.0 rules.
  • Restoring the traditional definition of “waters of the U.S.” (WOTUS) to protect both private property rights and the role of states in managing the water within their borders.
    • The expanded WOTUS definition, advanced by both the Obama and Biden administrations, sought to reach beyond the federal regulatory authority established under the Clean Water Act.
    • These rules would have imposed unworkable mandates, burdensome new permitting requirements and compliance costs on landowners, energy and agriculture producers and other industries.
    • Accordingly, Hoeven worked to protect against the implementation of the expansive WOTUS rules advanced by both the Obama and Biden administrations.
    • The senator is supporting the Trump administration in providing regulatory certainty and bringing the WOTUS rule into compliance with the Supreme Court’s decision in Sackett v. EPA.

“The Biden administration imposed a regulatory blizzard on this nation, overreaching its legal authority to advance rules that punished our coal, oil and gas producers and created new burdens impacting a wide range of industries,” said Hoeven. “As a result, we saw the premature retirement of baseload, coal-fired power plants, which are critical to the reliable operation of the electrical grid. This undermined our energy security and is absolutely the wrong approach for our nation. Instead, we need to empower technological innovation, like we’re doing with CCUS in North Dakota. At the same time, we will continue working with Administrator Zeldin and the Trump administration to roll back President Biden’s harmful policies, provide regulatory certainty and ensure the federal government respects private property rights. That’s how we can make the U.S. energy dominant while improving environmental stewardship.”

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