EPA plans to ask representatives from major industrial sectors about key issues that will inform the agency’s upcoming Clean Water Act (CWA) jurisdiction rule that is expected to significantly narrow the Obama-era CWA policy, including compliance costs and whether there is a lack of regulatory “clarity” on the law’s reach. The agency outlined its questions […]
A 78-year-old man imprisoned for digging two ponds in Montana, one on federal land and the other on private property, without a permit has appealed his sentence, according to the Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF). Oral arguments for Joseph Robertson’s appeal began Tuesday in the Ninth Circuit court. Robertson is serving an 18 month sentence in […]
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association has released a video featuring Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt urging farmers and ranchers to submit official comments on the repeal and replacement of the waters of the U.S. rule. The agency’s deadline for comments has been extended to Sept. 27. On the video, Pruitt said his agency is […]
“EPA is committed to an open and transparent process for reviewing the definition of ‘waters of the United States,’” said EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. The rule, sometimes called the “puddle” rule, expanded the definition of waterways to include small streams and even ditches, greatly increasing EPA’s jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act to cover private land […]
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is planning 10 public hearings to gather input on its effort to write a new version of an Obama-era water pollution rule. … Nine of the sessions will be dedicated to specific interests like agriculture, construction, conservation and energy, and one will be for the general public. The meetings are […]
The Environmental Protection Agency has extended the public comment period on their proposal to rescind the Waters of the U.S. rule. The original deadline was August 28 but now has been moved to September 27. Nebraska Farm Bureau National Affairs Coordinator Jordan Dux says that’s a positive decision. He says having the extension gives his […]
In other executive orders, he approved the Keystone Excel Pipeline and repealed Obama’s WOTUS (Waters of the United States) rule. The rule written by the Environmental Protection Agency gave government unprecedented authority to regulate all bodies of water including ditches, holes and ruts in the fields. “If it holds water anytime during the year, they […]
This flawed rule is an egregious attack on private property rights, threatening the farm community’s ability to tend their own land, address insect and disease pressure, expand their acreage and hire more farm workers. As small farm owners in Michigan, our land means everything to us. The right to use our property as we see […]
The federal government has extended the public comment period on a waters of the United States, or WOTUS, rule that would revert the definition of navigable waters to the pre-2015 regulation. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers made the announcement in a statement on the EPA website on Thursday, […]