The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is giving people more time to weigh in on the Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rule in the Clean Water Act (CWA).
The deadline to submit comments is now Sept. 27.
The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) is encouraging farmers, ranchers and dairymen to submit comments in favor of ditching the flawed WOTUS rule.
“Those laws in those regulations were so broad, in fact, that it allowed the agency to blur the distinction between regulating water and land use, or in other words, allowed the agency to regulate land use by just claiming the land was water. So, it was really problematic for farmers and ranchers,” Don Parrish, AFBF senior director of Regulatory Relations, said in an interview on the Newsline podcast.
Parrish explained it’s just as important now to weigh in as it was before, because environmental groups are launching their own campaigns to protect WOTUS.
“It is equally important to have our voices heard,” Parrish said. “This rule had a detrimental impact on the farmer’s ability to utilize his land, and we think it is critical that farmers submit comments in support of withdrawing this rule.”
AFBF has set up an opportunity for people to submit comments through their website.
Comments can also be submitted through the EPA website.
“They’re soliciting comments. It doesn’t have to be very detailed,” Parrish said. “Just add your name to a list of growing farmers and ranchers that understand that this rule was a significant overreach, did not comply with the statutory requirements that Congress put into place and supported the administration’s effort to withdraw this rule.”
In June, EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers issued a proposal to repeal the controversial water rule, but environmental groups pushed to preserve the rule.
Now, EPA is accepting comments regarding the repeal proposal.
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt told Congress he hopes to publish a new water rule establishing exactly which waters are regulated under the CWA. He said he hopes the rule will be published between the fourth quarter of this year and the first quarter of 2018.
WOTUS was stayed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit after states and other entities challenged it in court.
Although SCOTUS has not taken up the merits of the cases, it is considering whether the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals is the correct jurisdiction for the challenges.
SCOTUS announced in mid-April they will not put these legal challenges on hold despite an executive order (EO) from President Donald Trump ordering the review of the rule.
WOTUS expanded the federal government’s jurisdiction, allowing them to exert heavy fines and control how land is used in areas that only occasionally hold water.