Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy addressed the Agricultural Business Council of Kansas City yesterday. Her goal was to defend and explain the Administration’s proposed rules defining Waters of the United States (WOTUS) under the Clean Water Act (CWA).
In a media call on Wednesday before her trip concerns were expressed from those in attendance. During her speech yesterday, she addressed a few of them.
“Yesterday, we heard very clearly some of the concerns about our proposed rule. Let me clear up some of that: We heard fears that EPA is regulating groundwater. This is not true; groundwater regulations do and will fall under the purview of the states. EPA is not regulating all activities in floodplains, or every puddle, dry wash, and erosional feature. In fact, we’re doing just the opposite. If cattle cross a wet field – let them. That’s a normal farming practice, and all normal farming practices are still exempt. The bottom line is – if you didn’t need a permit before this proposed rule, you won’t need one when it’s finalized.”
McCarthy said their goal is for the practices to be reasonable and consistently applied. She added that everyone playing by the same rules allows farmers and ranchers to work with confidence and certainty.
“So let’s talk about the interpretive rule and the 56 conservation practices that are good for production and good for water quality. That rule seems to have generated lots of confusion. So, why did we want to list out those 56 practices? Those 56 are an attempt to clear the path for slam dunk conservation practices. We did not narrow exemptions; those 56 are a subset to the existing exemptions for normal farming, ranching, and silviculture. No one should have to think twice about taking advantage of these conservation practices.”
“Some mistakenly think that this means additional federal standards with which to comply, but that’s wrong. Conservation practice standards are not federal regulatory standards. They just provide a roadmap for producers to make sure they’re squeezing all they can out of their practice.”
“New exemptions are ‘self-implementing,’ which means no one needs to notify or get approval from EPA or the Corps. There’s no need to double check with anyone at any time. I’m sure farmers agree that the best discussion on jurisdictional determinations is one that never needs to happen. We added 56 exemptions because we want to boost conservation without boosting bureaucracy. Is the interpretive rule the best way to do that? Let’s figure that out together. I am about outcomes, not process.”
You can listen to her complete comments here: Administrator McCarthy’s Comments on WOTUS