June 11, 2014
www.gfb.org
Vol. 32 No. 23
GFB LAUNCHES CAMPAIGN AGAINST PROPOSED EPA WATER RULE Georgia Farm Bureau has launched a campaign to get the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to rescind a proposed rule that would expand federal regulatory authority over virtually all water in the United States by changing the definition of “waters of the United States” in the Clean Water Act (CWA). GFB is asking its members to contact their congressmen and senators and submit comments regarding the proposed rule. While elected officials had little direct input into this specific rule, Congress controls the budget and Congress created these agencies. If these agencies are to be brought back within reasonable limits, it is up to Congress to rein them in. The deadline to submit public comments is Oct. 20. Members can submit comments by visiting http://www.gfb.org/ditchtherule. The page also includes additional information about the rule and links to other resources for explanations about the proposed rule. Your comments matter. The original comment deadline of July 21 was extended after the agencies received numerous requests for an extension. GFB contends that the rule infringes on the private property rights of landowners and will make it easier for the EPA and Corps of Engineers to regulate all land. Further, the proposed rule ignores the will of Congress and two U.S. Supreme Court decisions. Georgia Farm Bureau opposes the rule because it expands federal regulatory authority to include small and remote waters, including waters, which are dry for most of the year. According to the preamble to the proposed rule, “The agencies propose that all waters that meet the proposed definition of tributary are ‘waters of the United States’… in other words, the agencies are asserting that all tributaries have a significant nexus [connection] with traditional navigable waters, interstate waters, and/or the territorial seas.” The agencies conclude that since a trickle of water in the smallest branch will eventually end up in the ocean, that trickle is part of the U.S. territorial seas. It also means that a small, seasonal spring, insufficient to float a child’s toy, will be considered a navigable water. EPA contends the rule will not expand federal authority, only clarify it. The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, however, noted in an April 21 report on the rule that “proposed changes would increase the asserted scope of CWA jurisdiction, in part as a result of expressly declaring some types of waters categorically jurisdictional (such as all waters adjacent to a jurisdictional water), and also by application of new definitions, which gives larger regulatory context to some types of waters, such as tributaries.”