WASHINGTON (June 6, 2022) – Today, cattle producers voiced their concerns with the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) and Army Corps of Engineers’ ongoing Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rulemaking attempt at a roundtable organized by the Kansas Livestock Association (KLA).
“Cattle producers are grateful for the opportunity to share their perspective on WOTUS and explain how rules crafted in Washington will impact the daily operations of farms and ranches across the country,” said National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) Environmental Counsel Mary-Thomas Hart. “To be successful in their operations, cattle producers need a clear, limited WOTUS definition that finally provides much-needed certainty after years of shifting rules.”
This roundtable is one of 10 accepted by the EPA and Army Corps. In July 2021, the EPA announced that rather than facilitate public engagement—the typical course of action for major rulemakings—the agency would instead ask private organizations to entirely plan and propose a roundtable with representatives from agriculture, conservation groups, developers, water and wastewater managers, industry, Tribal leadership, environmental justice groups, and state and local governments. KLA went through the arduous process of planning a roundtable to ensure that the voices of cattle producers were heard.
In addition to the roundtables, NCBA has engaged on WOTUS by submitting technical comments on the Biden administration’s proposed phase one WOTUS rule and filing an amicus brief in the case Sackett v. EPA, a challenge to the EPA’s authority under the Clean Water Act. NCBA has called for the EPA to pause WOTUS rulemaking until the case is decided.
A recording of the roundtable is available here.