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Missouri Farm Bureau pleased with new Clean Water rule

Missouri Farm Bureau president Blake Hurst says the Trump administration’s new Clean Water Rule “will provide much needed certainty to Missouri’s farmers” unlike the previous Obama administration rule that was “illegal and overreaching.” Missouri Farm Bureau’s Eric Bohl says the new definition will remove ditches and gullies from the WOTUS definition, which was one of the biggest complaints from farmers about the current rule, “It potentially could have required them to seek an EPA permit before doing normal farming activities and farmers and ranchers are already good stewards of the land.”

Bohl says the new proposed rule still protects waterways and appears to expand protections, “The main tributaries and rivers in Missouri that have always been protected are still going to be protected. And, I believe that this rule will even provide some protection for additional water bodies that did not have protection under the old rule.” The new WOTUS rule will have a 60-day period for public comments.

Missouri is one of the state’s where the courts have stayed the Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rule and it is not in effect.

(Thanks, Missourinet)