Some Midwest farmers are welcoming a legal ruling that delays new rules concerning water pollution. As Harvest Public Media’s Kristofor Husted (HEW-sted) reports, the regulations had been slated to go into effect today (FRI).
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The rules would give the Environmental Protection Agency power to regulate some streams and tributaries under the Clean Water Act. But a federal judge in North Dakota issued an injunction. That puts the rules on hold while 13 states sue the EPA. Many farmers and ranchers have maligned the rules for granting additional authority to the EPA. Blake Hurst, President of the Missouri Farm Bureau, says there has been uproar in parts of farm country.
“There’s tremendous concern from contractors, from farmers, from county road districts, from cities, from municipalities – tremendous concern about what the rule will mean to them. The EPA is totally isolated on this thing and they need to pull it.”
The EPA maintains the regulations are critical for the agency to protect downstream waters from pollution. Kristofor Husted. Harvest Public Media.