Peterson Supports Certainty for Farmers and Ranchers

Rep. Collin Peterson issued the following statement Thursday after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released the Navigable Waters Protection Rule, a replacement for the former "waters of the U.S." (WOTUS) rule.

“In May of 2017, during my first meeting with former EPA Administrator Pruitt, I committed to working with him to get the WOTUS mess sorted out. I am hopeful that the rule announced today provides farmers and ranchers more certainty about the scope of federal regulation on their property,” said Peterson. “Previous efforts either left too much discretion or went too far.”

The WOTUS rule designated an expanded list of waterways regulated under the Clean Water Act. The rule was challenged in the courts which led to regulatory disparities between the states. To fix this problem, Peterson was the lead Democrat on the Regulatory Integrity Protection Act of 2015, a bill which required the EPA to withdraw the WOTUS rule and develop a new rule based on input from stakeholders. Peterson supported the Administration’s efforts to reexamine and withdraw WOTUS for the past several years.