Griffin: ‘The EPA can’t arbitrarily decide to increase its regulatory authority’

LITTLE ROCK – Attorney General Tim Griffin issued the following statement after co-leading a 27-state comment letter opposing a proposal from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that would unduly burden state and national meat and poultry producers and illegally expand the EPA’s regulatory authority:

“The EPA wants to impose illegal and crippling regulations on meat and poultry producers, and it has circumvented Congress, colluded with extreme environmental groups, and entered into a consent decree that would radically expand the EPA’s regulatory authority. The EPA’s proposed rule would add additional regulations on processing plants with indirect wastewater discharges—discharges that are already treated by a municipal or other wastewater treatment facility, which are themselves subject to EPA regulations. That’s an extra layer of regulation that doesn’t accomplish anything. And the EPA lacks the legal authority to impose such regulations.

“The Clean Water Act already sufficiently regulates processing plants that discharge wastewater directly into navigable waters. The EPA currently regulates approximately 150 such plants. The EPA’s proposed rule would increase the number of processing plants that are directly regulated by the EPA from 150 to as many as 3,789 and adversely impact small, family-owned production operations like many here in Arkansas.

“The EPA can’t arbitrarily decide to increase its regulatory authority via a consent decree; only Congress can increase federal agencies’ regulatory power. The EPA should withdraw this rule immediately.”

Griffin co-led the letter with Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, and they were joined by a coalition of 25 other attorneys general. The letter asks the EPA to withdraw the proposed rule and argues that it exceeds the EPA’s authority under the Clean Water Act. Additionally, the letter explains that the proposed rule is part of a legal settlement between the Biden administration and its radical environmental allies—all designed to avoid congressional oversight and unlawfully expand the EPA’s authority.

The 25 states joining Arkansas and Kansas on the letter were Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming.

To read the letter, click here.

For a printer-friendly version, click here.

About Attorney General Tim Griffin

Tim Griffin was sworn in as the 57th Attorney General of Arkansas on January 10, 2023, having previously served as the state’s 20th Lieutenant Governor from 2015-2023. From 2011-2015, Griffin served as the 24th representative of Arkansas’s Second Congressional District, where he served on the House Committee on Ways and Means, House Armed Services Committee, House Committee on Foreign Affairs, House Committee on Ethics and House Committee on the Judiciary while also serving as a Deputy Whip for the Majority.

Griffin has served as an officer in the U.S. Army Reserve Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps for more than 27 years and currently holds the rank of colonel. In 2005, Griffin was mobilized to active duty as an Army prosecutor at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and served with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) in Mosul, Iraq.

He is currently serving as the Commander of the 2d Legal Operations Detachment in New Orleans, Louisiana. His previous assignments include serving as the Commander of the 134th Legal Operations Detachment at Fort Liberty (née Bragg), North Carolina, and as a Senior Legislative Advisor to the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness at the Pentagon. Griffin earned a master’s degree in strategic studies as a Distinguished Honor Graduate from the U.S. Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania.

Griffin also served as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, and Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of Political Affairs for President George W. Bush; Special Assistant to Assistant Attorney General Michael Chertoff, Criminal Division, U.S. Department of Justice; Special Assistant U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Arkansas; Senior Investigative Counsel, Government Reform and Oversight Committee, U.S. House of Representatives; and Associate Independent Counsel, Office of Independent Counsel David M. Barrett, In re: HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros.

Griffin is a graduate of Magnolia High School, Hendrix College in Conway, and Tulane Law School in New Orleans. He attended graduate school at Oxford University. He is admitted to practice law in Arkansas (active) and Louisiana (inactive). Griffin lives in Little Rock with his wife, Elizabeth, a Camden native, and their three children.

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