We are in for a very cold weekend, and for farmers wanting a deeper frost line killing off more bugs heading into the new growing season, that’s great. But a major worry right now is the possibility of a change in U S Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers rules involving Waters of the United States.
A few years ago, the rules were simplified, but now they might be going back to where every little drainage area or low point trickle on a farmer’s land could be subject to regulation. Vermilion County Farm Bureau spokesperson Tom Fricke says, that amounts to a bureaucratic overreach and wasted time for farmers, and is not what the protective rules are supposed to be about.
AUDIO: It’s getting into areas that doesn’t affect navigable waters. And that’s what the Waters of the U.S.; the Clean Water Act; was to address was navigable waters. And so those definitions have changed over time. And as that happens, there just becomes a big overreach into what is affected by this.
Fricke says there’s an action request open at this time, and they are asking for input from Illinois Farm Bureau members on this issue. Please look for a link on the Vermilion County Farm Bureau website.