DEC
Commissioner Ryan Quarles Attends New WOTUS Rule Unveiling at EPA
New Rule Is Result Of EPA Listening To American Agriculture
WASHINGTON (Dec. 11, 2018) — Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles praised the unveiling of a revised Waters Of The United States (WOTUS) rule today at a ceremony with Acting Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler.
“Today is a great day for American agriculture,” said Commissioner Quarles. “Earlier this year, I hosted Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler so that he could hear the concerns of the ag community directly from Kentucky farmers. WOTUS was a topic of discussion. This new WOTUS rule is much improved over the anti-business and anti-agriculture regulatory regime put in place by the previous administration. I thank Administrator Wheeler for working with the agricultural community, who saw this rule as a threat to our way of life.”
An Obama-era regulation, WOTUS significantly expanded the definition of "waters of the United States" and "navigable waters" under the Clean Water Act. National and state agricultural organizations, including American Farm Bureau Federation and Kentucky Farm Bureau, said the 2015 rule placed an undue burden on American farmers and advocated for its replacement.