Back
Jul 31, 2014
Officials from the EPA’s Office of Water and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers held a special question and answer session for ASA members on Wednesday to address specific concerns about the agency’s proposed Waters of the U.S. rule. Led by ASA Washington representative Bev Paul, the webinar featured the Office of Water’s Senior Policy Advisor Ellen Gilinsky, who gave an overview of the background and potential implementation of the Waters of the U.S. rule before fielding questions from farmers and state soybean staff.
Gilinsky said the main goal of the proposed rule is to clarify areas that have been left open to interpretation and led to case-by-case decisions in the Supreme Court and to reduce confusion and provide timeliness in the future. She added the EPA worked with USDA and spoke with farmers to make sure the rule won't change the playing field for agriculture stakeholders, because it is so important to provide food for the nation.
Gilinsky highlighted that it was still the EPA’s goal to provide more clarity on what is and isn’t regulated under the rule, a subject that has caused great concern to many farmers.
A copy of EPA’s presentation from the webinar will be available on SoyGrowers.com in the coming days.
