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EPA official working to educating farmers on rule
The debate over the Environmental Protection Agency’s Waters of the US rule isn’t letting up. Ellen Gilinsky, Senior Advisor to the Assistant Administrator for water at the EPA says there are no special requirements for farmers in the rule and it serves a clarification of the definition.
However, she tells Brownfield there has been confusion over what EPA calls its “interpretive rule”. “We worked with USDA and NRCS on it,” she says. “What it says is that we are guaranteeing that certain conservation practices will not require a permit and they can continue to do them. There are no additional requirements.”
Gilinsky says she’s been all over the country clarifying the Waters of the US rule to farmers. “We just try to keep sticking to the facts and hope they listen to them rather than the misinformation that’s swirling around,” she says. “We’re not regulating raindrops, we’re not regulating puddles, we’re not regulating rain gardens in people’s yards.”
She says the rule will allow farmers to continue to do business as usual – but with cleaner water.
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