Home EPA extends comment period on proposed waters rule
Local

EPA extends comment period on proposed waters rule

AFP

newspaperThe EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers have extended the public comment period for a proposed rule that defines the waters of the United States that fall under the jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act.

American Farm Bureau Federation President Bob Stallman called the EPA action a “victory for farming families” and promised Farm Bureau will use the extra time to comment wisely. “We will ditch this rule,” he said, referring to the Ditch the Rule campaign the organization has mounted.

EPA has misled the regulated community about the rule’s impacts on land use,” Stallman said. “If more people knew how regulators want to require permits for common activities on dry land, or penalize landowners for not getting them, they would be outraged.”

The EPA has said only 1,300 acres nationwide would be affected by the rule, but Stallman said it “would categorically regulate all so-called tributaries that ever carry any amount of water that eventually flows to a navigable water,” including ditches.

He said the rule is possibly the broadest expansion of regulatory control over land use and private property attempted by a federal agency. “It takes away land use decisions from state and local governments. It goes against the intent of Congress and the Supreme Court. … The bottom line for farmers and ranchers is that the proposed rule will make it much more difficult and potentially impossible to farm near these land features.”

AFP

AFP

Have a story idea or a news tip? Email editor Chris Graham at [email protected]. Subscribe to AFP podcasts on Apple PodcastsSpotifyPandora and YouTube.

Latest News

isaac mckneely
Basketball, Sports

Analysis: Tony Bennett is letting his Virginia team try to do more in transition

elijah gertrude
Basketball, Sports

Virginia Basketball Notebook: Tony Bennett on Elijah Gertrude, Jordan Minor

Virginia coach Tony Bennett and freshman combo guard Elijah Gertrude had agreed before the start of the season that Gertrude should redshirt this year so that he could focus on rehabbing his knee.

chesapeake bay
Climate, U.S. & World

Maryland moves to curb striped bass fishing in spring spawning season

Spurred by slumping striped bass reproduction in Maryland waters, the state Department of Natural Resources is moving to curtail fishing for the popular migratory species during its spawning run next spring.

earth globe
Climate

Roddy Scheer: How do enhanced geothermal power plants differ from regular geothermal?

climate change
Climate

Roddy Scheer: War is horrible, and it is no less so for the environment

earth
Politics

Tom H. Hastings: Guerrilla war in cities and other evolutionary missteps

veteran uniform
Politics

Robert C. Koehler: War does nothing but create the certainty of more war