The American Farm Bureau Federation says farmers need a new water rule.

Testifying to lawmakers Wednesday, Wyoming Farm Bureau President Todd Fornstrom, told a Senate Environment and Public Works subcommittee:

 

 

“Farm Bureau cannot overstate the importance of a rule that draws clear lines of jurisdiction that farmers and ranchers can understand.”

 

AFBF says the Environmental Protection Agency’s latest proposal to define which waters can be regulated by the federal government and which by state and local authorities is a vast improvement.

AFBF contends that expensive professional services needed to comply with current rules of the Clean Water Act, makes it impossible for farmers to use their own land to its fullest.

 

Fornstrom praised the latest proposed rule for its preservation of the Clean Water Act’s partnership among federal, state and local regulators.

AFBF says the new proposed rule draws clear lines between waters of the U.S. and waters of the state. A Texas court recently struck down the 2015 rule.