EPA Will Soon Provide Clarity on WOTUS Regulations
Courtney Briggs
Senior Director, Government Affairs
Chad Smith
Associate News Service Editor, NAFB
photo credit: AFBF Photo, Cole Staudt
Courtney Briggs
Senior Director, Government Affairs
Chad Smith
Associate News Service Editor, NAFB
Farmers and ranchers received welcome news from the Environmental Protection Agency this week. Chad Smith has more.
Smith: The Environmental Protection Agency recently announced moves to begin to clarify the Waters of the U.S. rule. Courtney Briggs, senior director of government affairs for the American Farm Bureau Federation, says her organization greatly appreciates this news.
Briggs: WOTUS has always been a troubling issue for our members, and the regulatory landscape became even more confusing under the Biden administration's rulemaking. So yesterday's announcement really was the first important step towards creating a rulemaking that faithfully complies with the Sackett decision.
Smith: Briggs says farmers and ranchers have been waiting for updated guidance for nearly two years, since the Supreme Court decision in Sackett v. EPA.
Briggs: This announcement is going to redo the WOTUS rule in order to bring it in line with Sackett. Unfortunately, the Biden administration really failed to provide that clarity that directly linked their rulemaking to Sackett. Its shortcomings really revolved around the lack of definitions for important linchpin terms.
Smith: She said this update provides some much-needed course correction on a WOTUS rule that had become overreaching.
Briggs: It's really less about water and water quality. It's more about land rights and the ability to use your land without having to ask the federal government for permission. So it's a difficult task to write a WOTUS rule but I think they're going to inject a lot of clarity and certainty and our members, farmers and ranchers throughout this country should be excited about this new announcement.
Smith:Learn more at fb.org/news. Chad Smith, Washington.
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