Agriculture groups are nervous that a “technical report” released by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will be used to justify new federal controls over water usage.
The EPA claims its report — “Protecting Aquatic Life from Effects of Hydrologic Alteration” — is meant to provide state regulators with “technical support” about the impact of water management on the health of rivers and streams.
However, farm groups worry it’s intended to make the case for expanding the Clean Water Act’s scope beyond regulating water quality to include water quantity as well.
“It’s a back door way of achieving something Congress didn’t give the EPA the authority to do,” said Don Parrish, senior director of regulatory relations for the American Farm Bureau Federation.
The Farm Bureau and several other agricultural organizations have sent the agency a letter stating the report isn’t limited to technical discussions but also “advances legal justifications” for regulating flows under the Clean Water Act.
The EPA’s decision to subject the “technical report” to public notice-and-comment procedures, with submissions due June 17, reinforces the notion that it will have regulatory impacts, said Karen Budd-Falen, a natural resources attorney.
“It’s strange they’re doing comments on a scientific report,” she said. “They’re just sort of sliding this in, and it makes me incredibly suspicious.”
An EPA spokesperson said the report is not a “back door” approach to obtaining more power and instead provides examples of how states can use existing Clean Water Act tools to address the impact of flow regimes on aquatic life.
Source: www.capitalpress.com