29 / 44
2016 Logan County Farm Outlook Magazine
Lincoln Daily
News.comMarch 24, 2016 29
WOTUS - to ‘What, us?’
Continue
8
R
egulations, they are a little like taxes. No one likes
them, but you learn to manage with them. With
taxes, people who prepare all year simply sail through
it when taxes are due. But there are those other people
who wait until tax day is here to prepare. You can see
their personality change, like dooms day is coming.
Farming is already packed with regulations, but last
year’s passage of the Waters of the United States Rule
(WOTUS) raised greater concerns for the agriculture
industry.
The passage of the Rule put a new tool in the hands
of the EPA that broadens its scope of jurisdiction,
virtually enabling the agency to monitor and regulate
water and contaminates that flow off of any property
and makes its way into our waterways. In the Rule’s
non-specificities and broad definitions, nearly all land
and any water runoff is under regulation.
Review
1948 - Federal Water Pollution Control Act enacted to
protect waterways from pollutants.
1972 - Clean Water Act (CWA) significantly
reorganized and expanded to regulate discharges
of pollutants into the waters and regulate quality
standards for surface waters.
2014 - Proposed Waters of the United States Rule
(WOTUS) published in the Federal Register Monday,
April 21; 90-day public comment period extended to
October 20, 2014.
August 28, 2015 - WOTUS signed.
Oct 9, 2015 - Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals of the
United States issues a ‘stay’ for all of the U.S. on
WOTUS Rule until it could be examined further.
January 2016 - President vetoes opposition to
WOTUS.
February 2016
- The Sixth Circuit claims jurisdiction and bundles 22
challenges to WOTUS filed by numerous states and
interest groups. Outcome pending.
- Senate vote fails to override presidential veto;
WOTUS stands.
The EPA’s first order of business with the Rule in