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Shining Light on Farm & Food Policy for 20 Years.
Thursday, August 15, 2024
The Senate passed a resolution to overturn the Biden administration’s “waters of the U.S.” rule, 53-43, sending the measure to the White House for what President Joe Biden has already promised will be a veto.
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.
Groups interested in the EPA/Army Corps of Engineers’ proposal to rewrite the definition of “waters of the United States” — and there are many — are struggling to get a handle on its impacts.
EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers announced their new “waters of the U.S.” proposal Tuesday at an event that attracted dozens of farmers and industry leaders who had long sought straightforward definitions that allowed farmers to more clearly decide how to operate on their lands.
Many areas covered by the Obama administration’s “waters of the U.S.” rule would be removed from federal oversight under a proposal released today by the Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers.