News
Grassley hopes to avoid WOTUS 2.0
U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley suggests another battle over the Waters of the U.S. Rule could be brewing.
Speaking to reporters today, the Iowa Republican says the original WOTUS rule impacted about 97 percent of the land in his state.
“This was a big deal in agriculture (in) ’15 and ’16. And if Trump hadn’t been elected, you’d have farmers today getting permits to just do regular farming. That’s a sad commentary.”
Last week the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers announced its plans to revise the definition of WOTUS under the Clean Water Act.
Grassley tells Brownfield he doesn’t want to go down that road again.
“I hope that we can launch an effort to keep the Trump rules. Or if they are changed, that they don’t change the traditional definition of navigable river.”
Don Parrish with American Farm Bureau tells Brownfield the Trump administration’s Navigable Waters Protection Rule protects the environment, gives the right balance to federal and state authority, and provides necessary clarity to farmers and ranchers who are mindful of water quality.
