The American Farm Bureau Federation, together with the other 62 members of the coalition, deplored a series of misrepresentations made by the EPA following release of the proposed “Waters of the U.S.” rule, which is the agency’s own interpretation of the 1970s-era Clean Water Act.
Among other things, the EPA and other agencies:
- Issued a series of agency blog posts that provide new interpretations of the proposed rule’s language;
- Revealed new reports that detail national challenges with defining the term “ordinary high water mark,” which is the most critical term for defining “tributary” under the proposed rule;
- Distributed comments from the Science Advisory Board that exposed serious problems with the scientific justifications for the rule put forth by the EPA;
- Released U.S. Geological Survey maps that show a massive expansion of territory covered under the EPA proposals, despite the EPA’s earlier and vehement statements to the contrary, and
- Failed to conduct meaningful consultations with farmers, businesses and others most severely affected by the proposed rule, ignoring both timeliness and transparency in government.
A copy of the letter can be found here: http://fb.org/tmp/uploads/wacletter092914.pdf.
