New WOTUS rule cuts red tape for farmers and ranchers
The EPA is redefining which waters fall under federal jurisdiction, fulfilling a 2016 Trump campaign promise.
The federal government is on the verge of clarifying which waters fall under its jurisdiction. It’s welcome news for farmers and ranchers, who say existing regulations leave them vulnerable to criminal charges for basic land management.
On Monday, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Army Corps of Engineers announced they have completed a new definition of “Waters of the United States” (WOTUS) under the Clean Water Act (CWA).
This proposed version complies with a 2023 Supreme Court ruling; Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency found the EPA had been overreaching its mandate and narrowed the scope of the CWA.
New rule “clear, durable,” says Zeldin
Officials at the EPA say the new definition is clear, lasting, and commonsense. It will cut red tape for farmers, ranchers, energy producers, landowners, states, and tribes.
“Democrat Administrations have weaponized the definition of navigable waters to seize more power from American farmers, landowners, entrepreneurs, and families,” said EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin. “We heard from Americans across the country who want clean water and a clear rule. No longer should America’s landowners be forced to spend precious money hiring an attorney or consultant just to tell them whether a Water of the United States is on their property.”
Some features in the proposal include: clear definitions of terms such as “relatively permanent” and “tributary,” a two-part test to determine “wetlands,” excluding agricultural features such as ditches and cropland, removing interstate waters from the definition, and definitively excluding “groundwater” from WOTUS jurisdiction.
Farmers and ranchers have been vulnerable to criminal penalties under unclear legislation
The current rule as applied left farmers and ranchers in the dark and exposed them to severe penalties without clarity on how the law should be followed, industry leaders say.
“Because there are criminal liabilities that attach to violation of the Clean Water Act, a landowner has to be able to know when they look at their land or when they look at a water feature, what is or isn’t WOTUS,” said Mary-Thomas Hart, chief counsel for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), in a March AgriTalk interview.
Trump says WOTUS abuse a “massive power grab”
During his first presidential campaign, Trump vowed to address the WOTUS rule. He signed an executive order in February 2017 directing the EPA and Army Corps to review WOTUS, calling it a “massive power grab” that cost “hundreds of thousands” of jobs while “treating our wonderful small farmers and small businesses as if they were a major industrial polluter.”
Since his appointment as EPA chief in Trump’s second term, Zeldin has promised to deliver the biggest deregulatory action in American history across the scope of the EPA, including WOTUS reform.
“One agency will do more deregulation in 2025 than entire federal government wide deregulatory effort ever of any administration,” Zeldin told Breitbart in an April interview. “We’re going to have trillions of dollars of deregulation, just in the EPA, just in 2025, and we’re going to bring down costs. We’re going to make it doing create jobs, including the auto sector. We’re going to make it easier to buy a home. Make it easier to be able to heat your home. This is the mandate. This the term mandate. This is what people voted for last November. We’re going to follow through to get it done.”
This definition will soon be available in the Federal Register for a 45-day public comment period.