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Michigan Farm Bureau closely following WOTUS

Michigan Farm Bureau says its closely monitoring how the new Waters of the U.S. rule will be enforced.

Senior Conservation and Regulatory Relations Specialist Laura Campbell tells Brownfield while Michigan has delegated authority to administer part of the Clean Water Act, it’s unclear if the new rule would allow the Environmental Protection Agency to override state decisions.

“If EPA or the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers disagrees, they can step in and override state decisions, they can throw our whole state program into chaos,” she says.

She says the vague language could be incredibly expensive for any violation or lead to jail time.

“The fines that you can get for violating the Clean Water Act are upwards of $30,000 per day of violations,” she explains.

Campbell says a Supreme Court decision on the rule expected in June will hopefully clear up ambiguity.