In a letter sent Wednesday, American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) President Bob Stallman thanked the chairs of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works and the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure for holding a joint hearing on the Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rule proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Army Corps of Engineers (Corps).
According to an AFBF news release, Stallman wrote that he was pleased “you are standing up for farmers and ranchers to shed light on this unprecedented expansion of the federal government’s regulation of farm and ranch lands.”
The WOTUS proposal, farmers and ranchers have long warned, would expand federal jurisdiction over land and related land use activities far beyond what Congress authorized in the Clean Water Act.
“It has been nearly a year since EPA and the Corps first proposed this rule, yet the farm and ranch community still lacks the clarity and certainty that was promised,” Stallman wrote. “We have asked the questions and submitted our comments, yet the agricultural community still needs clear and straight answers from administration officials over the intent and actual meaning of this proposed rule.”