Agriculture groups Thursday celebrated the Waters of the U.S. repeal by Trump administration as a victory. The rule greatly expanded the EPA’s federal jurisdiction and scope of waterbodies subject to Clean Water Act requirements. Senate Agriculture Chairman Pat Roberts says the action to repeal and replace the 2015 WOTUS rule will “alleviate regulatory burden” on farmers and ranchers. The repeal reverts regulations to those in place before 2015, while the Trump administration works to craft a new rule. The American Farm Bureau Federation called the repeal a victory for farmers and ranchers. AFBF President Zippy Duvall says Farm Bureau will now “work to ensure a fair and reasonable substitute that protects our water and our ability to work and care for the land.” Last month, a U.S. District Court ruled the Environmental Protection Agency must redraft the rule, stating the 2015 rule violated the Clean Water Act, and that the procedures for enacting the WOTUS rule were in violation of the Administrative Procedures Act.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue praised the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for taking another step to fulfill President Trump’s pledge to repeal and replace the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule.
“Repealing the WOTUS rule is a major win for American agriculture. The extreme overreach from the past Administration had government taking the productivity of the land people had worked for years,” Secretary Perdue said. “Farmers and ranchers are exceptional stewards of the land, taking great care to preserve it for generations to come. President Trump is making good on his promise to reduce burdensome regulations to free our producers to do what they do best – feed, fuel, and clothe this nation and the world.”
U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) issued the following statement after the Environmental Protection Agency finalized a rule to formally roll back the Obama administration’s overly burdensome Waters of the United States (WOTUS) Rule, which, if enacted, would have amounted to one of the largest federal land grabs in U.S. history. Thune has long advocated for overturning the rule and has co-sponsored legislation that would have achieved that goal.
“WOTUS was one of the most ill-conceived ideas to have ever emerged from a federal government agency – the kind of idea that gives the federal bureaucracy a bad name,” said Thune. “Opening up nearly every body of water, no matter how large or small they might be, to federal jurisdiction would be a nightmare for property owners and producers in South Dakota and around the country. While WOTUS was tangled in legal battles during the final years of the Obama administration, the uncertainty still hung over the heads of farmers and ranchers, which is why I’m glad this administration followed through on its commitment to unravel this rule once and for all.”
