The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear arguments against a lower court ruling that gives the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) broad powers to micromanage local water runoff.
AFBF General Counsel Ellen Steen says the agency is on the cusp of establishing a nationwide super-zoning authority, which threatens landowners, farmers and ranchers while undercutting local and state governments’ legal authority.
The lawsuit arose in the wake of EPA’s so-called blueprint for restoring the Chesapeake Bay, although the issue is national in scope.
“This locks into place detailed allocations of allowable pollution among farmers, forestry, cities, urban runoff, municipal sewer systems and septic systems,” Steen said to AFBF’s Newsline.
The locked in allocation would be based on one snapshot in time rather than allowing the states and local governments to change their plans, adapt their plans based on new information, new science and new technologies. That would prevent changes on the ground that would be more nimble, efficient and achievable to actually achieve water quality goals, according to Steen.
Farm Bureau supports cleaner watersheds in the Chesapeake Bay and around the nation but is fighting EPA’s process for getting there.
“EPA has no business dictating land use and deciding these intensely local matters,” Steen said.
Steen says Congress decided the states should have the power to plan for clean water goals and the states have the power to change those plans based on new information, better information or changes in the facts. This means that the people who care about local economies are the ones making local decisions, not the federal government. However, this can only happen if the Supreme Court decides to hear the case.
“If EPA wins here and the court doesn’t take this case, EPA’s going to take this approach, this framework, and carry it out to other watersheds across the country,” Steen said.