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NFU says water rule “appears” better

National Farmers Union President Roger Johnson says the final Clean Water Rule (formerly Waters of the U.S.) released by the EPA appears to be better than what the agency and the Army Corps originally proposed.

But, he tells Brownfield Ag News there are still areas of concern for NFU. He says they are not happy with the section on water features such as prairie potholes, “Where you have a number of features in a certain location and they look at them sort of collectively. There is still an opportunity and we HOPE that there might be some more specific guidance that would come from the agency to deal with that.

Johnson says the Farmers Union IS pleased with the EPA’s rule as it applies to neighboring waters, “They provided more definition and clarity to what ditches are actually within the Clean Water Act jurisdiction and which ones are NOT.”

Johnson says it is NFU policy that the EPA not expand the jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act and their first reading of the rule seems to suggest that is the case.