2022 Spring Farm Outlook

Page 14 Spring 2022 Logan County Farm Outlook LINCOLN DAILY NEWS March / April 2022 Spring 2022 Logan County Farm Outlook LINCOLN DAILY NEWS March / April 2022 Page 15 Just prior to 2015 deadline, a Tribal entity sued the EPA and got WOTUS stopped in its tracks. On November 18, 2021, the EPA and the U.S. Department of the Army announced a return to pre-2015 WOTUS regulations and water on prior improved tillable ground is currently exempt from enforcement. Congress is urging the Agriculture Industry to be involved in future talks and planning. The current goals of the Clean Water Act are: • Protecting water resources and communities under the Clean Water Act. • Reviewing the latest science on the impacts of climate change on U.S. waters. • Creating practical implementation strategies for state and Tribal partners. • Utilizing input received from landowners and the agricultural community. The pre-2015 understanding of the term WOTUS means: 1. All waters which are currently used, or were used in the past, or may be susceptible to use in interstate or foreign commerce, including all waters which are subject to the ebb and flow of the tide; 2. All interstate waters including interstate wetlands; 3. All other waters such as intrastate lakes, rivers, streams (including intermittent streams), mudflats, sandflats, wetlands, sloughs, prairie potholes, wet meadows, playa lakes, or natural ponds, the use, degradation or destruction of which could affect interstate or foreign commerce including any such waters: 1. Which are or could be used by interstate or foreign travelers for recreational or other purposes; or 2. From which fish or shellfish are or could be taken and sold in interstate or foreign commerce; or 3. Which are used or could be used for industrial purposes by industries in interstate commerce; 4. All impoundments of waters otherwise defined as waters of the United States under this definition; 5. Tributaries of waters identified in paragraphs (s)(1) through (4) of this section; 6. The territorial sea; 7. Wetlands adjacent to waters (other than waters that are themselves wetlands) identified in paragraphs (s)(1) through (6) of this section; waste treatment systems, including treatment ponds or lagoons designed to meet the requirements of CWA (other than cooling ponds as defined in 40 CFR 423.11(m) which also meet the criteria of this definition) are not waters of the United States. Waters of the United States do not include prior converted cropland. Notwithstanding the determination of an area’s status as prior converted cropland by any other federal agency, for the purposes of the Clean Water Continue 8