Part 3: AFBF on WOTUS

Today, we wrap up our three-part series on the Waters of the US with Courtney Briggs from the American Farm Bureau Federation. In today's segment, she focuses on two key terms that must clearly be defined under the WOTUS rule, which are relatively permanent waters and continuous surface connection.

“In order to be a WOTUS, you need to have a relatively permanent flow in connection to a traditional navigable water. So what is relatively permanent mean that is something that we have grappled with for many years, and this EPA is providing a definition of relatively permanent, and one that we think is legally sound. Continuous surface connection is another important term because it determines what wetlands can be regulated that are adjacent to relatively permanent streams.”

Briggs explains how the Trump administration rule making aims to clearly define those terms and why that clarity is critical for producers navigating compliance and land management decisions. First of all,

there are civil and criminal penalties attached to Clean Water Act compliance. So you can be fined $64,000 per day for every day of non compliance, or jail time if it is a criminal penalty. So if the rules are not clear, a farmer can unknowingly break the law and be subject to those penalties.”

AFBF’s Courtney Briggs.