HIGH PLAINS JOURNAL: EPA encourages producers to submit comments on WOTUS

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 […]

WASHINGTON EXAMINER: EPA holds fall meeting blitz on rolling back water rule

“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 HILL: EPA to host 10 hearings on water rule rewrite

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 HERITAGE FOUNDATION: What You Need to Know About the EPA/Corps Water Rule: It’s a Power Grab and an Attack on Property Rights

By Daren Bakst

Read study at The Heritage Foundation…

WNAX: Nebraska Farm Bureau Sees WOTUS Repeal Comment Extension As Positive

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 […]

HOUSTON CHRONICLE: Babin extols progress, bemoans roadblocks

In other executive orders, he approved the Keystone Excel Pipeline and repealed Obama’s WOTUS (Waters of the United States) rule.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 […]

THE DETROIT NEWS: Letter: Michigan Farm Bureau’s Mark and Sarah Mathe: Water rule threatens farming

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 […]

DTN THE PROGRESSIVE FARMER: WOTUS Comment Deadline Extended

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, […]

THE SACRAMENTO BEE: Settlement reached in federal case of Modesto-area farmer fined $2.8 million for plowing his field

[John] Duarte became a cause célèbre among property-rights activists, farmers and other conservatives after running afoul of environmental laws in 2012. A judge ruled in 2016 that he violated the “Waters of the United States” provision of the Clean Water Act by “deep ripping” a Tehama County field without a permit. Duarte said he just […]

DAILY JOURNAL ONLINE: McCaskill holds to middle ground at town hall

She also noted the EPA’s failed attempt to regulate “navigable waters” in which the federal agency asserted that it could prevent a landowner from doing anything with a wetland that was near a ditch that eventually drained into navigable water. Continue reading at Daily Journal Online…