Tuesday, November 18, 2014 Private Well Owners Co-operative. It affects everyone not just the private well owners. Agribusiness groups fret over EPA water rule Sam Rolley Business and agricultural groups have doubled down on criticism of the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed Waters of the United States rule, which they say will create a flood of economically damaging red tape if passed. The rule, unveiled earlier this year, has been billed by regulators as an attempt to simplify and clarify which waterways are covered by the Clean Water Act and which ones aren’t. But opponents of the new EPA regulations say that it will only increase the agency’s reach because of broad language giving it the authority to regulate activities near rivers, streams and ponds, as well as dry creek beds, puddles and ditches. According to The Hill, the American Farm Bureau lashed out against the proposal in comments to the EPA last week. “The proposed rule provides none of the clarity and certainty it promises,” the group wrote. “Instead, it creates confusion and risk by providing the agencies with almost unlimited authority to regulate, at their discretion, any low spot where rainwater collects, including common farm ditches, ephemeral drainages, agricultural ponds, and isolated wetlands found in and near farms and ranches across the nation.” Critics like the American Farm Bureau charge that the EPA regulations will require landowners and agricultural entities to acquire Clean Water Act permits for routine activities like building fences or planting even in areas where water is present only once every few years. The EPA argues that even the smallest collections of water are sometimes connected to larger waterways. Poultry producers, according to comments filed by the U.S. Poultry and Egg Association, National Chicken Council and National Turkey Federation, would be hit particularly hard by the broad new water rule. “Given the financial and potential criminal liabilities associated with violating the CWA, the connectivity of an area to a navigable water is best established on a case-by-case basis. This vague concept of connectivity cannot be applied universally to all areas and navigable waters, thereby defeating the agencies’ stated purpose of avoiding case-by-case determinations for waters of the US,” the groups commented. They continued, “The proposed rule would assert jurisdictional authority over countless dry creeks, ditches, swales and low spots that are wet because it rains or a farmer has installed practices to sustain the viability of his operation. “Even worse, the proposed rule attempts to claim authority over remote ‘wetlands’ and/or drainage features solely because they are near an ephemeral drainage feature or ditch that are now defined as a water of the US subject to CWA jurisdiction.” Republican lawmakers in both chambers of Congress have spoken out against the EPA proposal and, refreshed by midterm victories, are working on a plan to derail the rule. In comments about the rule, Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) and Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) said: “[It] presents a grave threat to Americans’ property rights, and its finalization will force landowners throughout the country to live with the unending prospect that their homes, farms, or communities could be subject to ruinous Clean Water Act jurisdictional determinations and litigation.”
Posted on: Tue, 18 Nov 2014 22:03:36 +0000
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