EPA's McCarthy tries to clarify proposed water rules, says she was surprised by farm uproar

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy told a Missouri audience Thursday she was surprised that so many people have responded negatively to proposed rules to simplify federal water laws and asked what steps the agency could have done to clarify their position, Todd Neeley reports for DTN/The Progressive Farmer. McCarthy was in Missouri Wednesday and Thursday to talk about the proposed rules. (Neeley photo: McCarthy speaking Thursday in Kansas City)

"Farm groups have feared that the new rule would give EPA authority to regulate tributaries, streams, even ditches and small ponds, on U.S. farms, and that any farm activities around those structures that could, even tenuously, be linked to changes in water quality downstream would also be regulated," Neeley writes.

McCarthy acknowledged that "there will be waters on ag land that are jurisdictional, meaning they could be regulated," Neeley writes. But she said, "It doesn't mean that as a result of this that you're going to need a permit for anything.

She said, "We really didn't see the changes we're making in this proposal as having a significant impact on the agriculture community. We have kept the exemptions and the exceptions that are currently in the law that allow farmers to keep performing those farm practices that they've always been doing. I'm not going to allow confusion to continue. We're just going to get the clarity we need in the end. But it'll be a process getting there." (Read more)