America’s seafood leaders are pushing back on new plans from Democrats on Capitol Hill to revive a legal doctrine that fishermen say threatens to “silence” them.
On Tuesday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., led several of her Democrat colleagues in introducing the Stop Corporate Capture Act (SCCA), which she says is aimed at stopping corporations from “hijacking” the government.
The bill would codify what’s known as the Chevron doctrine – a legal theory established in the 1980s that says if a federal regulation is challenged, the courts should defer to the expertise of the agency.
The Supreme Court last month overruled that doctrine, the result of a lawsuit filed by fishermen against the government claiming that it imposed rules on their industry that Congress did not allow. Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that Chevron deference “permits the Executive Branch to exercise powers not given to it.”
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Fisherman David Goethel sorts cod and haddock while fishing off the coast of New Hampshire, April 23, 2016. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)
With the new threat of the Chevron doctrine finding permanence in federal law, New England fishermen are crying foul and pointing to the recent offshore wind disaster wreaking havoc on the Massachusetts island of Nantucket as a prime example of why lawmakers should not give “expert bureaucrats” power over their industry.
“So-called expert bureaucrats approved the Vineyard Wind turbines that are falling apart in Senator Warren’s home state, spreading debris from Nantucket to Cape Cod. Fishermen have always known that offshore wind will be a disaster for our oceans. But alphabet soup agencies used Chevron deference to silence us,” Jerry Leeman, CEO of the New England Fishermen’s Stewardship Association (NEFSA), told Fox News Digital.
NEFSA CEO Jerry Leeman says, “So-called expert bureaucrats approved the Vineyard Wind turbines that are falling apart in Senator Warren’s home state, spreading debris from Nantucket to Cape Cod.” (Courtesy Jerry Leeman)
“Without Chevron, fishermen finally have a chance to protect their jobs, heritage, communities and the marine environment from regulators and developers who are industrializing the ocean.”
Vineyard Wind is a joint venture between foreign entities Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, which built wind farms off the coast of Massachusetts.
Earlier this month, a blade the length of a football field snapped off a wind turbine, sending debris and shards of fiberglass into the ocean, much of which washed ashore in Nantucket.
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Sen. Elizabeth Warren speaks during a Bloomberg Television interview on Capitol Hill on July 12, 2023. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
NEFSA and other groups like the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA) have pushed back against the Biden administration’s offshore wind development, but so far to no avail.
Notably, Vineyard Wind is a recipient of a 30% tax break carved out by the Inflation Reduction Act, which extended and increased tax credits for wind energy projects that began construction prior to Jan. 1, 2025.
The concern over the Chevron doctrine being codified in law is that fishermen like Leeman, who contend that they are the true experts in their own industry, are outweighed by government agencies that regulate them if a court challenge arises.
Steve Forbes said, “Sen. Warren’s attacks on America’s small and family businesses knows no bounds. She wants to put bureaucrats back in charge of small businesses when the Supreme Court rightfully liberated them from big government.”
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Maine lobstermen haul in their latest catch off the state’s coast. (Maine Lobstermens Association/Marketing Collaborative)
“The new bill from Sen. Warren and the far-left in Congress to codify the Chevron Doctrine into law is an attempted end-run around the Supreme Court’s recent ruling reining in unaccountable federal agencies,” said Elaine Parker of the Job Creators Network Foundation.
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“Sen. Warren and her band are trying to farm out their job of legislating to bureaucrats, making it easier to grow the size and scope of the federal government at the expense of Main Street,” Parker said, adding that the bill is “likely unconstitutional.”
“This [bill] shows once again that Democrats side with regulators over ordinary Americans,” she said.
Warren’s office did not return Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
