Despite increased efforts by Environmental Protection Agency officials to explain and defend the proposed Waters of the United States rule, farm groups continue to have concerns.
The American Farm Bureau Federation this week sent Congress a comprehensive document that responds to inaccurate and misleading comments made about the rule by EPA acting assistant administrator for water Nancy Stoner in a recent agency blog post.
“AFBF and several state Farm Bureaus have met with the EPA repeatedly, and each time agency officials have declined to grapple with the serious, real world implications of the rule,” AFBF President Bob Stallman said. “EPA is now engaged in an intensive public relations campaign, and we believe its statements are directly contrary to the reality of the proposed rule.
EPA has even started a campaign called “Ditch the Myths” to counter Farm Bureau’s “Ditch the Rule” effort.
Meanwhile, the National Farmers Union (NFU) has sent a letter to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy asking for more information about which bodies of water would be deemed jurisdictional under the proposed rule. The letter was a follow-up to a conference call between McCarthy and members of the NFU board of directors.
“During our call, a number of questions were raised by NFU board members,” NFU President Roger Johnson wrote. “The board asked for clarity surrounding some of the definitions in the proposed rule. The general sense was that the proposed rule has created less clarity, not more as intended.”
NFU wants EPA to provide a map with estimates of which bodies of water will be considered jurisdictional to EPA’s regulation. Questions were also posed about wetlands in the Prairie Pothole region, coordination with state agencies and the treatment of unconnected bodies of water that are seasonal. NFU is currently preparing formal comments about the proposed rule and hopes to have answers from EPA soon to ensure its comments are as informed as possible.
