WASHINGTON D.C. — Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Sunnyside, has co-sponsored a bill to provide better transparency to the federal government's rulemaking process.

Newhouse joined Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Michigan, as an original co-sponsor to H.R. 5226, dubbed the Regulatory Integrity Act. The legislation comes in the wake of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) efforts during the public rulemaking process for the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule.

Following a 2015 New York Times story that reported the EPA undertook “a campaign that tests the limits of federal lobbying law,” the Government Accountability Office issued a report in which they found, “the EPA violated provisions (of law) through its use of social media in association with its rulemaking efforts to define ‘Waters of the United States’ under the Clean Water Act (CWA) during FYs (fiscal years) 2014 and 2015.”

“Federal agencies should not use taxpayer funds to promote new rules and regulations against the very people that they are regulating,” Newhouse said. “Congress already prohibits that practice annually, and the Regulatory Integrity Act will encourage transparency by creating an easily searchable database that the public can access to ensure agencies follow the law. I thank Congressman Walberg for his work on this issue, and I am proud to join him in calling for this important legislation.”

This is not the first time the EPA has drawn ire from Newhouse, as the congressman recently joined House Agriculture Committee Chairman Mike Conaway, R-Texas, Rep. Brad Ashford, D-Nebraska and 142 fellow House members in sending a bipartisan letter to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, in which they demanded answers about EPA funds used in an anti-farmer campaign in Washington.

The lawmakers requested answers on the EPA Region 10s funding of the website whatsupstream.com and an advocacy campaign in Washington that reportedly attempted “to infleunce legislators for greater regulations of farmers and ranchers.” EPA Region 10 covers Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, Washington and 271 Native American tribes.

In April the EPA admitted they should not have funded the whatsupstream.com campaign, due to the campaign's “brazen” lobbying of state legislators in breach of federal law. The campaign used grant awards in the funding of a website, radio ads and billboard displays to depict dead fish and polluted water, with the website encouraging visitors to contact their state legislators and hold the agriculture industry responsible.

“The EPA has been overreaching its authority for some time, and the agency’s covert campaign to sway the outcome of the harmful Waters of the U.S. rule is a prime example. Now we know, based on an independent report, that the EPA did indeed engage in illegal lobbying methods,” Walberg said. “The Regulatory Integrity Act will ensure the EPA and other federal agencies operate the rulemaking process in an open and transparent manner to prevent such misconduct in the future.”

Richard Byrd can be reached via email at city@columbiabasinherald.com.