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Ship sails on Congress overturning WOTUS

A member of the House Agriculture Committee is disappointed the ship has seemingly sailed on Congress overturning the Biden administration Waters of the U.S. rule.

In an exclusive interview with Brownfield following an Ag Advisory Board meeting that featured House Ag Committee Chair Glenn GT Thompson, Iowa Republican Randy Feenstra said possible solutions were discussed Thursday.

“We were really hoping that we could change the definition of ‘navigable waters’ in the farm bill, but (Thompson) just said they looked at it and the opportunity is just not there. Which is so disappointing, but I understand.”

EPA administrator Michael Regan testified before the House Ag Committee this week and Feenstra says Regan seemed comfortable with WOTUS in its current form.

“We said ‘hey, you know what, we want to wait until the Supreme Court (rules)’ and he said ‘no we’re not going to do that.’ We voted to override Biden’s veto (so) we’ll see how that plays out, but it just seems like no one wants to listen to the American farmer.”

The Supreme Court is expected to rule on the Sackett versus EPA case any day.