FORT WORTH, Texas — In Nov. 2021, the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers announced their proposal to repeal and replace the Navigable Waters Protection Rule, NWPR. As the agencies move forward, they are seeking public comment on their latest step, which is reimplementing the 1980s-era Waters of the United States, or WOTUS, definition.
The Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association submitted formal comments to the agencies on Thursday detailing many of the concerns raised by cattle producers. According to association president Hughes Abell, chief among those concerns is the return of a vague definition.
“As the EPA and Army Corps try to reimplement an old definition of federally regulated water features, they’re also bringing back old problems that the Navigable Waters Protection Rule already solved,” said Abell. “Once again, ranchers will pay the price, fighting to keep their stock ponds, dry creek beds, and even puddles, from succumbing to federal oversight and costly permitting requirements.”
The association also urges individual cattle producers and landowners to submit their own comments on the matter and have published a webpage with more information on how to do so.
The deadline to submit comments is Feb. 7, 2022.
–Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association
RECOMMENDED ARTICLES
OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma Farm Bureau Legal Foundation recently joined 20 other state Farm Bureaus to file an amicus curiae – or “friend of the court” – brief in support of the petitioner in the Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency United States Supreme Court case review. Background Now spanning more than a decade, Sackett v. EPA focuses […]
FORT WORTH, Texas — In 2015, the Obama administration enacted its Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) Rule. The absurdly overreaching scheme would have gone as far as regulating drainage ditches and streams that only flow after heavy rainfall. Fortunately, it was replaced with the more sensible Navigable Waters Protection Rule, or NWPR, in 2020. That […]
FORT WORTH, Texas — If you farm or ranch for a living, by now, you’ve almost certainly heard the term WOTUS, which stands for Waters of the United States. The subject of regulatory and legal battles for most of the last decade, the saga continues. Waters of the United States emerged as part of the […]
