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NCBA plans to work with EPA to replace WOTUS

The National Cattlemens Beef Association (NCBA) is confident new EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt will implement a Clean Water Rule that works for producers.

NCBA environmental counsel Scott Yeager says following President Trump’s executive order to rescind the Waters of the U.S. Rule (WOTUS), the Environmental Protection Agency will need to develop a replacement.

“With something that spells out bright lines of where the jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act starts and ends.  And that’s going to be important because if we don’t work together as cattle producers and as agriculture in general with the EPA to figure out what that replacement looks like, we’re going to be stuck with whatever it is at the end of the day.”

He tells Brownfield NCBA wants to help the EPA design a plan that’s workable for cattle producers, protects water quality, and follows the rule of law.

Yeager says the previous administration did not afford that opportunity.

“One of the things that EPA stated is that they did over 400 outreach meetings, which sounds like a very big number.  Those meetings happened, but the reality is that the comments and concerns that were brought forward by cattle producers and others in the agricultural community really weren’t heard and really weren’t taken account of and accommodated in the 2015 Rule.”

Pruitt addressed NCBA members during a legislative conference in Washington, D.C. Thursday.

 

 

 

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