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Farm Bureau on Clean Water Rule: Follow the law

The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) will continue to fight the federal Clean Water Rule, known as Waters of the U.S., but Congressional Relations Director Don Parrish says for now, the organization’s focus is changing.

“We’re going to do everything in our power, even though we disagree with this rule, to get our farmers to comply with it,” Parrish told Brownfield Ag News Thursday.  “It is the law of the land.  We don’t want our farmers breaking the law.”

Additionally, Parrish says the penalties for not complying with the law are severe.

“The cost of breaking the law, from a civil standpoint, is $37,500 a day,” he said.  “Clearly from a criminal standpoint it can land people in jail.”

The rule, under the jurisdiction of the EPA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, takes effect Friday.  Parrish says that doesn’t mean the full weight of the rule will be felt right away, but he says it will eventually, in the form of various permits that will be required for certain farming practices.

“These are going to come to fruition,” said Parrish.  “States are going to be faced with putting water quality standards in areas they’ve never put water quality standards before.  It’s going to create all kinds of fallout, but it’s going to take a while for those to ultimately manifest themselves.”

Parrish says the AFBF will fight the rule legislatively and in the courts, but he says that farmers need to pay attention to following the law.

“The very first step to determining whether or not they need to comply with the law is to determining where on their farm they have waters of the U.S.” said Parrish.  “And we need make sure that as many farmers as possible do that.”

AUDIO: Don Parrish (7 min. MP3)

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