ARPN’s Dan McGroarty wrote earlier this month about EPA’s newly-proposed redefinition of water – warning that:
“…the issue isn’t just mining. Couple the expansive new water rule to EPA’s unilateral extension of its “dredge and fill” powers, and there’s no reason that oil and gas projects won’t be next. Ditto major construction, transportation routes, and manufacturing plants. Even the American farmer is now in EPA’s cross-hairs.”
America’s farmers are now weighing in. According to Chris Chinn, a Missouri family farmer:
“Congress writes the laws of the land, not federal agencies. When Congress created the Clean Water Act, it clearly limited federal regulatory power to “navigable” waters. Congress did not intend to allow EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers to regulate farmland just because water occasionally flows across it. EPA should respect the limits set by Congress.”
Read the piece in full to see how EPA’s self-styled “clarification” of federal water rules portends a radical redefinition of the regulatory regime for America’s farmers, and anyone else who puts a shovel in the ground.