|
 WOTUS is an acronym for
Waters of the United States (WOTUS) and is an extension of The Clean
Water Act. Concern for the planet was one of the major Democrat
Presidential platforms during the 2008 presidential election. After
winning the election, an ambitions plan was drawn up by the EPA
during the Obama administration to alter how all individuals,
businesses and government bodies treated the water in the U.S. Their
concern was what was then a 50,000 square mile (and growing) DEAD
ZONE in the Gulf of Mexico caused primarily by chemical pollutants
that were carried to the gulf by every river, creek, stream, ditch
and grassy waterway. And farmers were high on the EPA's list as
major contributors to this problem.
When you look at the dead zone, you will see what looks like normal
sea water. You can swim in it, you can go boating, surfing and
kayaking in it. It doesn't appear any different to the naked eye.
But the water has been so altered by all the chemical contaminants
that it contains no life sustaining oxygen and all fish who enter
the dead zone will either be repelled or suffer death, and all
motionless or slow moving bottom dwellers die.
The EPA ambitiously planned to hire thousands of new agents who
would routinely inspect every puddle, retention pond, ditch, stream,
creek and river to seek out the sources of this pollution and levy
huge fines against those who they believed were causing these
polluting problems. The goal was to eradicate the Gulf dead zone
problem within 20 years.
At the heart of the WOTUS theory was the inherent belief that every
drop of water that falls from the sky ultimately finds its way into
the oceans surrounding the U.S., carrying with it chemical
contaminants from their sources to their final destinations, causing
death to all sea life in the areas of contamination.
Producers at that ag breakfast could imagine their farms being
invaded by hoards of EPA agents roaming around their farm fields,
investigating every retention pond, puddle and grassy waterway for
standing water that contained contaminants; or as demonstrated
during the provocative slideshow showing arial view maps of farm
underground tiles created by ground penetrating radar (GPR)
satellite surveillance, making their lives miserable and expensive.
The main message: lots more regulation was on the horizon.
The Obama WOTUS implementation was to be in full force by 2015. This
gave ag industry individuals pause to consider how miserable the EPA
could make their lives by enforcing WOTUS. And in the manner that
the ag industry always responds to a challenge, different segments
of the industry moved on making fundamental changes.
The Fertilizer Institute issued new guidelines for fertilizer
applications and rates. Implement manufacturers and machinery
manufacturers modified their machines and invented some new machines
to distribute fertilizers and chemicals at the root zone rather than
broadcast. The chemical pesticide industry revamped their protocols,
and even the most stubborn and stolid producers took heed and
altered their practices, and motivated by significant increases in
costs, helped to make the decision to use less inputs more
efficiently.
Ag groups helped to lead producers in rethinking sustainable
practices by bringing greater efficiency, less inputs and higher
profits into focus. Programs like maximum return to nitrogen (MRTN)
replaces highest yield competition with greatest profit, and the 4
R's of nitrogen management - right source, right rate, right time,
and right place that help keep nutrients on and in the field; all
result in benefits to the farmer and to the environment.
By 2015 some differences were noticeable. Input costs were lower.
With less anhydrous being injected, outlying filtration ponds with
farm tiles noted less duckweed and algae.
Fertilizer and chemical dealers began offering advanced services
like field mapping, soil sampling and other processes to optimize
growth while limiting costs. Under the WOTUS threat, the industry
had become self-regulating through innovation.
Just prior to 2015 deadline, a Tribal entity sued the EPA and got
WOTUS stopped in its tracks. On November 18, 2021, the EPA and the
U.S. Department of the Army announced a return to pre-2015 WOTUS
regulations and water on prior improved tillable ground is currently
exempt from enforcement. Congress is urging the Agriculture Industry
to be involved in future talks and planning.
The current goals of the Clean Water Act are:
-
Protecting water resources
and communities under the Clean Water Act.
-
Reviewing the latest
science on the impacts of climate change on U.S. waters.
-
Creating practical
implementation strategies for state and Tribal partners.
-
Utilizing input received
from landowners and the agricultural community.
[to top of second column] |
The pre-2015
understanding of the term WOTUS means:
-
All waters which are
currently used, or were used in the past, or may be susceptible
to use in interstate or foreign commerce, including all waters
which are subject to the ebb and flow of the tide;
-
All interstate waters
including interstate wetlands;
-
All other waters such as
intrastate lakes, rivers, streams (including intermittent
streams), mudflats, sandflats, wetlands, sloughs, prairie
potholes, wet meadows, playa lakes, or natural ponds, the use,
degradation or destruction of which could affect interstate or
foreign commerce including any such waters:
-
Which are or could be
used by interstate or foreign travelers for recreational or
other purposes; or
-
From which fish or
shellfish are or could be taken and sold in interstate or
foreign commerce; or
-
Which are used or
could be used for industrial purposes by industries in
interstate commerce;
-
All impoundments of
waters otherwise defined as waters of the United States
under this definition;
-
Tributaries of waters
identified in paragraphs (s)(1) through (4) of this section;
-
The territorial sea;
-
Wetlands adjacent to
waters (other than waters that are themselves wetlands)
identified in paragraphs (s)(1) through (6) of this section;
waste treatment systems, including treatment ponds or
lagoons designed to meet the requirements of CWA (other than
cooling ponds as defined in 40 CFR 423.11(m) which also meet
the criteria of this definition) are not waters of the
United States.
Waters of the United States
do not include prior converted cropland. Notwithstanding the
determination of an area’s status as prior converted cropland by any
other federal agency, for the purposes of the Clean Water Act, the
final authority regarding Clean Water Act jurisdiction remains with
EPA.
WOTUS is not dead, and could once again raise its requirements and
enforcement levels, especially if it is linked in any manner to the
CLIMATE CRISIS hysteria that the current administration is pushing
hard.
In December 2021, the EPA released recommendations from the Farm,
Ranch, and Rural Communities Advisory Committee (FRRCC) based on
discussions from public forums from 2020 to 2021. FRRC
recommendations include:
-
Placing limits on the
scope of federal jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act by using
the term “navigable”;
-
Clarifying the definition
of WOTUS in terms that are easy to interpret;
-
Defining jurisdictional
features that provide flexibility for farmers and ranchers to
implement environmental innovation projects; and
-
Retaining clear exclusions
that are critical to farmers, ranchers, and rural communities,
including groundwater, canals, previously converted cropland,
and more.
The most pressing problem
of the pre-2015 WOTUS regulations is that the rules are ambiguous,
hard to interpret, and difficult to enforce and too far reaching. No
one knows what the future of WOTUS will be, but know that the dead
zone in the Gulf grew last year from an average of 50,000 square
miles to more than 63,000 square miles, and something still needs to
be done.
|
