TFB says EPA’s rule withdrawal is a ‘tiny step’

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will move forward with a vast expansion of the agency’s regulatory power with changes in the Clean Water Act. However, the EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) did announce the withdrawal of their waters of the U.S. “interpretive rule,” according to TFB news release.

That rule would have required federal permits for normal farming activities in and around newly defined “waters,” unless strict USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service practices were followed.

“This is a step in the right direction, but only a tiny one,” Texas Farm Bureau President Russell Boening responded. “EPA is still pursuing the much more invasive ‘Waters of the U.S.’ rule.”

That rule greatly expands federal jurisdiction to include very small water bodies, flood plains and land that is not even wet most of the time. These newly classified “waters” are not currently subject to federal regulation. Farmers and ranchers nationwide, including Texas Farm Bureau, have voiced opposition.