Waters of the U.S. now referred to as the Clean Water Rule by EPA continues to be one of the biggest concerns for America’s farmers.
During a discussion about Indiana agriculture on Monday, Indiana Sen. Joe Donnelly says the Senate Ag Committee continues to push back against EPA’s rule.
“My colleague Heidi Heitkamp, the Senator from North Dakota, said she took one of the EPA officials up in a plane and flew over North Dakota,” he says. “It is basically the land of 10,000 lakes plus 10,000 more lakes. She looked at the EPA official and said ‘tell me your plan’.”
He says he continues to tell EPA that nobody has a better interest in clean water on the farm more than the family that lives there.
“Our plan is to do in Indiana the things we know how to do best,” he says. “The things we’ve always done–taking care of our land and taking care of our water. I’ll be there every step of the way to back you up and to fight with you to keep the craziness away from you so we can do what we do best. Feed the world.”
He says the Senate Ag Committee is working to change the WOTUS rule.
“So that it reflects the realities of agriculture, the realities of farmers that work every single day to make sure our waters are clean,” he says.
Donnelly is one of the original sponsors of Senate Bill 1140, the Federal Water Quality Protection Act–which he says is a much more reasonable and responsible bill in regards to the regulation of the nation’s water.
Source: www.brownfieldagnews.com