Push-Back On USDA Wetland Rule Changes Poses Hurdle For EPA CWA Plan

摘要

Farm groups, environmentalists and state wildlife agencies are pushing back against a quietly-issued interim rule that expands the Agriculture Department's (USDA) designations of former wetlands as "prior converted cropland," posing a hurdle for EPA's plan to align its Clean Water Act (CWA) exclusions for converted cropland with USDA's rule. Comments closed Feb. 5 on an interim final rule enacted Dec. 7 by USDA that aims to make it easier for farms to win recognition of former wetlands on their property as "prior converted" under the Swampbuster program, with all sides - state groups, industry and environmentalists - attacking at least some parts of the move. Swampbuster is USDA's flagship wetlands protection program, including conservation mandates, and includes exemptions for former wetlands that are now cultivated as cropland.