Otter on Ditch the Rule

Puddles, ponds, ditches, ephemerals (land that looks like a small stream during heavy rain but isn't wet most of the time) and isolated wetlands dot the nation's farmland. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (the Corps) on March 25 issued a proposed rule that would expand its regulatory authority under the Clean Water Act (CWA) to these types of land features and waters, giving the agencies the power to dictate land-use decisions and farming practices in or near them. The rule will make it more difficult to farm or change a farming operation to remain competitive and profitable. In a conversation with Gov. Otter, he didn't exactly hold any punches on the subject. Particularly when asked about irrigation canals. "They want to include prairie potholes. We just came out of Colorado from the Western Governors meeting there, and of course all of these rules always hit the hardest in the West. This is where we use water for irrigation, recreation. Water is important to us because without it, there is no life. We send people half way to God and we tell them if you find a celestial planet up there that we didn't know about, what's the first thing we ask them to look for? It's water because that means life as we know it. So they are trying to control the water.