Courtesy of Envato Elements
From staff reports
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association announced support Friday for a Waters of the United States-related report issued by the Environmental Protection Agency’s Farm, Ranch, and Rural Communities Advisory Committee.
The committee’s recommendations include:
- Ensuring EPA compliance with the Clean Water Act and Supreme Court precedent limiting federal jurisdiction over bodies of water.
- Developing a clear definition of WOTUS that is easily interpreted by farmers and ranchers.
- Protecting WOTUS exemptions for common agricultural features, including farm ditches, stock ponds, prairie potholes, prior converted cropland, and other small, isolated water features.
- Reconsidering the EPA roundtable process to ensure that all stakeholders have an opportunity to voice concerns on WOTUS rulemaking.
“The FRRCC represents a diverse group of stakeholders including academia, industry, non-governmental organizations, and state, local, and tribal governments,” Scott Yager, NCBA Chief Environmental Counsel, said in a news release. “NCBA strongly supports the committee’s recommendation to develop a clear and limited WOTUS definition and protect key exemptions for common agricultural features. With the EPA’s convoluted approach to soliciting public comments and stakeholder perspectives on WOTUS, NCBA encourages the EPA to listen to its own advisory committee’s recommendation, and the recommendation is clear: farmers and ranchers need clear rules and regulatory certainty to be successful.”
NCBA hasn’t been the only agricultural group to speak out recently about the need to protect the interests of farmers and ranchers in any WOTUS review by the Biden administration. At the American Farm Bureau Federation Convention in Atlanta on Sunday, Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall told members to make their voices heard on the issue and the organization, at its trade show, offered members counsel on how to approach the issue with lawmakers.
(Hear Duvall’s entire address here)
“It is critical that this administration understands that we should not need a team of lawyers and consultants just to farm our land,” Duvall told convention attendees.
To learn more about NCBA and its efforts, visit www.ncba.org.