The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) is keeping a close watch on the WOTUS Rule as it goes through rulemaking by the EPA. We caught up with Mary-Thomas Hart with NCBA to learn more.
“We are always watching the WOTUS rule as it goes through yet another iteration of rulemakings. NCBA commented on that last year. We expect to see that rule go final by the middle of this year, so we’ll be watching with anticipation and prepared to defend that rule if it goes final in the way that we expect it to. I think we are dealing with a constant, you know, it kind of feels like a yo-yo, right? It goes up and down the court system with occasional stops at the EPA. But you know, in all of those times that it’s yo-yoed up and down in the last 25 years or so, it never got all the way to the top. It never got to the Supreme Court until the Sackett decision in 2023. And in that decision, the Supreme Court gave EPA some pretty explicit direction about how it could and couldn’t define WOTUS,” said Hart.
“This is the first time the EPA has gone through a full rulemaking process in an attempt to apply the Sackett decision. So, you know, I think our goal at the end of the day shouldn’t be to find the most aggressive decision that subjects the least number of water features to federal jurisdiction. It should be a rule that can withstand the test of time, a rule that complies with the standards set in Sackett, the standards set by the and a rule that will stand up in court. Because I think more than anything, farmers across the country really do need some regulatory certainty. They want to be able to look out at their farm, figure out what they’re going to be able to use, what they need to get permits for, so they can move forward and plan for the next generation,” said Hart.
Audio Reporting by Dale Sandlin for Southeast AgNet.