2023 Fall Farm Outlook Lincoln Daily News Oct 2023 Page 37 legal challenges included the Supreme Court case Rapanos v United States. In the ruling of this case, the Supreme Court decided “if a water body had a ‘significant nexus’ to a federally protected waterway… then it was connected and fell under federal jurisdiction.” This mostly applied to wetlands, defined as “a relatively permanent body of water connected to traditional navigable waters.” When determining a ‘significant nexus,’ it must be determined if the WOTUS performs certain physical, chemical, and biological functions, among other qualifications. This became one of the key issues for the opponents of the CWA. The CWA’s controversy has continued into 2023. Back in May, in the case of Sackett v EPA, the Supreme Court decided that only “wetlands with a continuous surface connection to bodies that are waters of the United States” are going to be federally protected. This decision also removes the term ‘significant nexus’ when determining if a WOTUS is federally protected. Proponents of the CWA state this is detrimental in keeping a WOTUS clean. Whether or not these new regulations will make it easier for America’s farmers and ranchers to follow the CWA remains to be seen. From what has been published, however, it seems that many farmer Continued --
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MzExODA=