Trump Works on WOTUS and PA Immigration Raid
From the Ag Information Network, I'm Bob Larson with your Agribusiness Update.**The Trump administration is working quickly to withdraw the controversial Waters of the U.S. rule, but that may be the easy part.
EPA officials met last month with associations representing state and local agencies to outline the agency's plans to first withdraw the WOTUS rule and replace it with something less expansive.
Other federal agencies can now review the proposed withdrawal, which has been stayed by the courts since a few weeks after it went into effect in the summer of 2015.
**The Trump administration's efforts to reduce regulatory burdens related to pesticides was the subject of a contentious hearing at the semiannual meeting of EPA's Pesticide Program Dialogue Committee.
Environmental, farmworker and public health advocates spoke in favor of continued federal regulation of pesticides and vowed to resist any EPA efforts to weaken or delay safeguards.
The Center for Biological Diversity, which frequently files lawsuits seeking endangered species protections, is party to a settlement requiring EPA and federal agencies that implement the Endangered Species Act to assess the impacts of pesticides on listed species.
**A recent immigration raid in Pennsylvania has heightened fears that President Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration could widen to other agricultural areas.
Democrats, citing deportation fears, have introduced legislation offering a pathway to legal status for farmworkers.
There is no evidence so far that Immigration and Customs Enforcement intends to broadly target farms, and GOP congressional leaders have shown no interest in taking on immigration reform.