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WOTUS May End Up in Court

Dan Industry News Release, Water

wotusPresident Trump’s effort to have his Environmental Protection Agency repeal the Obama EPA’s much-criticized ‘Waters of the U.S.’ (WOTUS) rule, is likely to end up in court.

But an American Farm Bureau official is hopeful the repeal will be upheld. When it comes to ‘WOTUS’ and the pending EPA rule to repeal it, AFB’s Don Parrish is sure of one thing…tape

Challenge

A federal court in Ohio put ‘WOTUS’ on hold, and suggested there was a strong chance the Obama EPA and Corps of Engineers failed to comply with the Supreme Court’s instructions in previous Clean Water Act cases, and that the rulemaking process was “suspect.”

A GAO report found the EPA misused social media to promote its WOTUS rule…tape

Rule

The Trump EPA will now hold listening sessions for the public, starting September 19th, with a session devoted just to agriculture on October 17th.

Parrish says Congress never intended WOTUS to regulate ditches, farm ponds and other land features that are not streams, and the Trump EPA could simply let the law revert to the 1986 pre-WOTUS statute. But the hearings are intended to help decide what comes next.

From the National Association of Farm Broadcasting News Service.