By Todd Neeley, DTN Staff Reporter
LINCOLN, Neb. (DTN) — Although state and agriculture interests are calling for EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to withdraw a first rule resetting waters of the U.S. definitions back to pre-2015, the agencies already have effectively returned to those definitions.
Ag groups submitting comments to EPA on Monday point to a lack of engagement from the agencies as reason for concern.
Battle lines are being drawn on a renewed war on how to define waters of the U.S. in the Clean Water Act (CWA), seven years after the Obama administration finalized a rule that eventually lost in court and was then rewritten by the Trump administration.
The Biden administration’s EPA currently is enforcing pre-2015 definitions while doing a broader rewrite, although the agencies just recently completed a public-comment period on a first pre-2015 rule.
Read more of this story from our partners at DTN/Progressive Farmer here: https://www.mydtn.com/agriculture/web/ag/news/article/2022/02/08/state-agriculture-groups-ask-epa
