The Senate fell three votes short of passing a bill that would have sent the Waters of the U.S. rule back to the EPA to start over.
Indiana Sen. Joe Donnelly—a cosponsor of the Federal Water Quality Protection Act—told reporters that the bill would give farmers a voice and exempt farm ditches and ponds from federal jurisdiction while still protecting “navigable” waterways, “People back home know how to do this, they’d like a partner that’s willing to work them, as opposed to always telling them what to do.”
The EPA has said it did listen to farmers and Sen. Barbara Boxer of California – who voted against the bill – said farmers don’t understand the rule, “This is a step backwards and it’s all about the Farm Bureau, and I get it, but I think they don’t really don’t understand the rule. That is coming out, where millions of people actually commented on the rule.”
Boxer said this is an EPA that wants to work with people. Opponents of the Waters of the U.S. rule strongly disagree.
Both Republican and Democrat Senators voted in favor of the bill. Forty-one senators, all of them Democrats, voted against it. A vote of 60 was needed for it to pass.
Source: www.brownfieldagnews.com