The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) released a detailed analysis of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) final Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rule and is urging farmers and ranchers to lobby Congress to kill the rule or stop its implementation.
AFBF President Bob Stallman says the rule, which seeks to redefine which U.S. waters can be regulated under the Clean Water Act, is even broader than the draft proposed in April 2014.
“Our analysis shows yet again how unwise, extreme and unlawful this rule is,” Stallman said on a conference call with reporters. “Our public affair specialists and legal team have assembled the best analysis available anywhere, and their conclusions are sobering. Despite months of comments and innumerable complaints, the Waters of the U.S. proposal is even worse than before.”
He added that EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers can now use remote desktop tools to establish the presence of a tributary, without a human ever seeing the feature, according to Agri-Pulse.