EPA guidance on Clean Water Act called vast overreach
Farm and Ranch April 29, 2011 Agricultural organizations are concerned about this week’s announcement by the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers of guidelines for determining federal waters that fall under the jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act. The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association says the Obama administration essentially rewrote two U.S. Supreme Court cases and ignored concerns from Congress in issuing a guidance the NCBA says dramatically expands the regulatory authority of the EPA under the Clean Water Act. The National Corn Growers Association says the guidelines have the potential to expand federal jurisdiction in a way that could lead to additional permitting requirements and make farmers more vulnerable to citizen action lawsuits. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says however, that the guidelines preserve existing exemptions for agriculture which include; Vilsack: “Prior converted cropland, ag runoff, irrigation ditches, stock ponds, rice growing paddies, gullies, things of that nature.” In a letter to the EPA and the Corps 170 members of Congress, including several from the Pacific Northwest, expressed their opposition to the guidance. The bi-partisan group of lawmakers expressed concern that the guidance issued amounts to a de facto rule instead of mere advisory guidelines. There will be a 60-day comment period on the Clean Water Act jurisdictional guidelines. I’m Bob Hoff and that’s the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on Northwest Aginfo Net.
