WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Representative Sam Graves (MO-06), House Small Business Committee Chairman, will hold a hearing Thursday on a joint proposal issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Army Corps of Engineers that would dramatically increase the scope of the Clean Water Act (CWA).  Blue Springs resident Tom Woods, Owner of Woods Custom Homes, will be testifying in Washington on behalf of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) regarding the proposal and its effects on small businesses.

“I thank Mr. Woods for speaking before the Small Business Committee this week.  When you get down to it, the EPA’s rule means more government in your life.  The intrusion on your private property rights for such things as building a home, a pond, or raising cattle is only going to create more headaches while costing Missourians time and money,” said Congressman Graves.

Mr. Woods, with more than 40 years of experience in the home building industry, is the First Vice Chairman of NAHB.  Woods formed his first building company in 1969, and is currently president of Woods Custom Homes, which has developed more than 1,000 homes in the Greater Kansas City area.

As drafted, the EPA rule would result in an unprecedented jurisdictional expansion of the CWA, subjecting thousands of streams, ditches, ponds and other small waters to federal permitting and other requirements.

Last Friday, Graves wrote to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy and Assistant Secretary of the Army Jo-Ellen Darcy to urge withdrawal of the rule.  On April 23, 2014, Graves alerted small business that the EPA’s new power grab was under consideration, and was recently in Platte City to assess EPA aggression on local property rights.