Posted on 08/17/2015 8:57:44 AM PDT by Rodamala
(Camp Hill) – Pennsylvania Farm Bureau (PFB) says new maps released by the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) reveal how the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will radically expand its jurisdiction over land use if the final “Waters of the United States” (WOTUS) rule takes effect as scheduled on August 28. In addition, the release of more than 50 pages of documents by the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform show that the Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) did not want to be associated with EPA’s final WOTUS rule, due to concerns that the rule included provisions that were not supported by science, were legally vulnerable and misrepresented raw data supplied by the Corps.
“While EPA was telling the public that agriculture exemptions would remain in place and have no real impact on the farming community, the agency included language in the final rule that (according to the new maps) characterizes as much as 99 percent of Pennsylvania’s land mass as federally regulated ‘water,’ and therefore subject to EPA scrutiny,” said PFB President Rick Ebert.
Farm Bureau notes that the maps, which were prepared by Geosyntec Consulting, show the dramatic expansion of regulatory reach that EPA is claiming under WOTUS and the vulnerability of virtually all land in the Commonwealth to potential regulation by EPA in the future.
“The maps show that WOTUS should be a concern for everyone who owns land in Pennsylvania. The rule is extremely complicated and confusing, but also vague, granting EPA unlimited power to determine whether any track of land is subject to new regulations. For farmers, it could mean new requirements for federal permits, restricting farming on existing land and severe penalties for using crop protection tools that are safe, scientifically sound and federally-approved, ” added Ebert.
PFB notes that although the Army Corps of Engineers was an alleged partner with EPA in preparing the rule, documents from high ranking officials indicate that the Corps did not consider the rulemaking a joint endeavor, asking that EPA remove all references to the Army from the rule (including its economic analysis) and remove its logo from all WOTUS documents.
“The documents clearly reveal that EPA not only mislead the farming community and the public about the degree of support by the Corps for the final WOTUS rule, but it also ignored the serious concerns raised by Corps officials about the legal and scientific validity of the final rule,” continued Ebert.
While the Corps did not have the benefit of seeing the new maps, the Corps internal communications to EPA identified problems with the science applied by the agency and EPA’s use of a flawed economic study in attempting to “justify” its rule.
The Corps specifically noted: “Corps data to EPA has been selectively applied out of context, and mixes terminology and disparate data sets. In the Corps judgement, these documents contain numerous inappropriate assumptions with no connection to the data provided, misapplied data, analytical deficiencies and logical inconsistencies.” The documents also noted that EPA’s rule included “gross misrepresentation of Corps raw data.”
In addition, the documents revealed the Corps concerns with the legality of standards pursued by EPA in the final WOTUS rule: “It will be legally vulnerable, difficult to defend in court, difficult for the Corps to explain or justify and challenging for the Corps to implement.”
Corps officials concluded that the final rule is “inconsistent with SWANCC and Rapanos (Supreme Court Decisions)” and that EPA’s “assertion of CWA (Clean Water Act) jurisdiction over millions of acres of isolated waters...undermines the legal and scientific credibility of the rule.”
With the compelling revelation from Corps documents that EPA conducted a flawed rulemaking process and new analysis from AFBF maps that show EPA has expanded its regulatory authority far beyond what were intended through the Clean Water Act, Pennsylvania Farm Bureau has reiterated its call for EPA to withdraw the WOTUS rule.
“The Army Corps of Engineers documents confirm what farmers, representatives of other businesses and government officials across the nation have believed all along, that the massively flawed WOTUS rule ignores legal and scientific principles. In order to regain public confidence, EPA needs to withdraw the rule and commit to starting the process over from scratch by listening to farmers, builders, other stakeholders and representatives from the 30 states that are suing EPA over the rule,” concluded Ebert.
Click here to download new maps released by the American Farm Bureau Federation
Pennsylvania Farm Bureau is the state’s largest farm organization with a volunteer membership of more than 61,400 farm and rural families, representing farms of every size and commodity across Pennsylvania.
WOTUS/Farm Bureau ping.
...and the winner for Most Confounding Headline of 2015 is...
Where is the GOPee Congress on this usurpation?
That's were the RINO bunch is focusing their attention.
I could only hope that someone would actually read what it says. I can’t help the piss poor headline.
Anyway, I find it interesting that the Army Corps of Engineers wants to divorce itself from the WOTUS Final Rule.
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