Items Tagged with 'Don Parrish'

Another federal court has found the 2015 “waters of the U.S.” rule legally deficient, but language in the ruling could add another layer of controversy to the Trump administration's efforts to rewrite the rule.

The Trump administration’s proposed new definition of “Waters of the United States” in the Clean Water Act is either a radical policy shift that misinterprets Supreme Court precedent and will leave up to 70 percent of tributaries and half the nation’s wetlands unprotected, or it’s a constitutionally valid approach to regulating the nation’s waters that preserves the states’ lead role over water pollution control and land use planning.

The Environmental Quality Incentives Program will take on a broader role, with more dollars and longer contracts, as it emerges under 2018 farm bill provisions.

In the regulatory picture for 2019, the top issue for aggies is probably the “waters of the United States” proposal, but there are many other items on the agenda for agriculture in the coming year.

Whatever version of the farm bill finally emerges, USDA's largest working lands conservation program appears destined for at least a substantial cut.

When Scott Pruitt appeared last June before House appropriators to discuss the budget proposal for his agency, he made a bold pronouncement: “We will have a final rule that will provide a definition for ‘waters of the United States’ by the fourth quarter of this year, no later than the first quarter of next year, because that’s the job of the agency.”