Agricultural News
NCBA Waits for Court Ruling To Stop EPA's Clean Water Rule from Taking Effect
Tue, 25 Aug 2015 15:01:17 CDT
This Friday, August 28th is the date the Environmental Protection Agency's has set for implementation of the Clean Water Rule, otherwise known as 'Waters of the US'. National Cattlemen's Beef Association Vice President of Government Affairs Colin Woodall said we're down to one final hope to stop this rule from taking effect. NCBA has partnered with other agricultural organizations and supporters on Capitol Hill to push back and ask for a delay.
"Just given a lot of the concerns brought up by Corps of Engineers memos that were leaked and also a lot of the problems between headquarters EPA and the regional EPA offices on interpretation," Woodall said. "That has not worked. So right now everything is focused on the courts".
There are three courts that are hearing 'WOTUS" cases that could rule on an injunction by the end of the week. One case that is moving forward is under Chief Judge Lisa Wood in the Southern District of Georgia. She held a hearing where she listened to the arguments from 11 state attorney generals. She has indicated that she will do something by the August 28th implementation date, but has not released a decision.
EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy has remained quiet on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on 'WOTUS'. Woodall said it's a good sign the Corps of Engineers are not backing away from those memos.
"We have not seen that here with the Corps of Engineers, so I think that shows that there is legitimate concern," Woodall said. "When you break it down, those concerns really focus on three areas. One, they felt that EPA manipulated the data that they were given, that they had given to EPA from the Corps of Engineers. They don't feel this can hold up in court and they want their name, their logo and any association with this rule to be taken away. So, to have an agency, like U.S. Army Corps of Engineers be so certain in their opposition to this just from the process point of view, we think will help us in our court case, but also hopefully spur the Senate to action when they get back after Labor Day."
Radio Oklahoma Network Farm Director Ron Hays featured Colin Woodall on the Beef Buzz feature. Click or tap on the LISTEN BAR below to listen to today's Beef Buzz.
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Network- but is also a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR below for today's show- and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
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