News
Legislator, ag leaders calling for support against WOTUS
U.S. Representative Vicky Hartzler of Missouri and other ag leaders are calling for support to block the return of the Waters of the U.S. rule.
At the Missouri State Fair last week, Hartzler said returning to the Obama-era rule would give the federal government control of more than 99 percent of Missouri’s land alone.
“Before you could do anything on your land, whether it’s [to] build a house, whether it’s leveling out a pasture, build a pond, you’d have to go to the federal government and get a permit,” she said. “I call that the ‘mother may I’ policy and it’s just unacceptable.”
Hartzler says revisiting the WOTUS would be a regulatory nightmare for Missouri and Midwestern farmers blurring the lines of federal jurisdiction.
During a farm tour Wednesday, Hartzler said the uncertainty the potential legislation provides is already causing farmers to pause projects because of fear of legal troubles.
“Which could allow for the suing of people back to five years for moving dirt when they didn’t even know that they were going to subjected to these regulations,” Hartzler said.
Missouri Corn’s Darrick Steen tells Brownfield putting a hold on certain projects could be harmful to crop production and the environment.
“This can impact conservation practices,” he said. “Listen, there’re waterways and improvements to farms from a conservation standpoint that involve some jurisdictional matters sometimes and if farmers think they’re going to be violating federal law, they’re probably not going to put them in.”
Hartzler says ‘clarity’ from the Trump administration’s Navigable Waters Protection rule allows farmers to do their job effectively.
Hartzler is running for a Senate seat as Roy Blunt is set to retire from his position after 10 years in the role.
