2018 Spring Farm

2018 Logan County Farm Outlook Magazine LINCOLN DAILY NEWS March 22, 2018 Page 31 T he Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) Act was passed by federal legislators in early 2015. The new clean water rule was developed under the Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of the Army agencies. Industry representatives were included in its development, but appeared not to have been heard. Immediately after being passed the new measure immediately received push back from a multitude of groups and agencies for its burdensome regulations on the entire country. The groups took it to courts across the U.S., where the rule was temporarily halted by a nationwide stay from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. In the months following, developments were not pleasant. For example, the EPA’s method for writing the rule quickly came into question. There was speculation that comments on economic impacts and information provided by the agricultural industry were ignored. The emphasis of the water rule was on navigable waterways. However, within its definitions serious questions arose about just how “navigable” is a ditch or a pond. While ditches can be tributaries, it was also argued that ditches go dry, so they are not consistent tributaries, and don’t actually add a whole lot of anything going to the larger waterways such as the Illinois River. In January of 2016, United States Representative Darin LaHood formed his Illinois Agriculture Advisory Committee. The group consisted of 38 members with two people from each of the 18th Congressional District’s 19 representative counties. The first meeting was held in Lincoln at the Logan County Extension Office and was very well attended. Following that meeting, Rep. LaHood made the following statement: “At the committee meeting many farmers expressed their frustration with overregulation from our current administration. Just this week, President Obama vetoed a measure, which passed the House and Senate with Illinois Farmers get short reprieve from EPA’s restrictive WOTUS Act Continue 8