Swamp Stomp
Volume 14, Issue 25
This is not the easiest stuff to track. It appears that the public comment period has been extended for the agricultural exemptions. However, if I did my math correctly the public comment period expired on June 5, 2014. That is 45 days from the original April 21, 2014 announcement.
On June 10 there was an announcement that the public comment period had been extend to July 7, 2014. The announcement was 5 days after the comment period closed. Not that I am trying to rush this, but it is a bit of a moving target. Just add to the fun, the rule took effect on April 3, 2014 so I do not know what the point of an extension is anyway.
The public is welcome to comment on the accompanying interpretive rule, which took effect immediately. The interpretive rule codified 56 agricultural practices that will be exempt from obtaining Section 404 dredge and fill permits if the activities occur in waters covered by the Clean Water Act.
The farmers are not real happy about this aspect of the new Clean Water Act rules. In a statement, Bob Stallman, president of the American Farm Bureau, called the proposal “a highly burdensome rule” and said, “Rest assured we will use that time to its best advantage. We will ditch this rule.”
I think the pun was intended. Most ditches would be regulated.
The agencies extended the comment period a day before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment is scheduled to hold a public hearing to examine the potential impacts of the joint rulemaking.
In a draft fiscal year 2015 spending bill for energy and water programs, House appropriators included language to bar the Corps from writing, promulgating and enforcing the proposed rule. That ought to speed up the Corps review process. Does EPA fall under this? I am not sure.
Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.), chairman of the House Small Business Committee, praised the agencies for extending the comment period, saying in a statement June 10, “We told the agencies that they need to listen to America’s small businesses, farmers and ranchers about the costly impact of this rule. The decision to give more time for input, as we suggested, is a step in the right direction.”
However the interpretive rule took effect immediately after it was issued. So it is a bit like talking to the “hand.”
In other news, the new Clean Water Act rules remain open for discussion until October 20, 2014. So far there are about 192,000 comments. Some of them are heartbreaking, funny, angry and some are a bit scary. We should also see a finalization of the “scientific” report that serves to document the science that supports these rules. EPA had committed to finalizing the Connectivity Report before the new rules are finalized sometime in 2015.