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Letter to the Editor: EPA rules

Dear Editor,

As a farmer in the United States of America, it deeply affected me when the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) overstepped its bounds by establishing new rules and regulations to the Clean Water Act. I am by no means against clean water, but is it up to the EPA to make laws? I thought that was up to our legislatures. For those of you who do not know what I am talking about, the controversial new Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rules have already taken effect in Iowa and 36 other states, which redefines what waters are covered under the federal Clean Water Act. This not only affects farmers but any land owners including those in town with yards that water periodically runs through during a rain storm.

To put it in a condensed version, many common farming practices, such as tillage, pesticide application and pond construction, may need permits or permission just to be done on your land. Farmers in Iowa and around the country are now facing uncertainties and potential delays, red tape and steep fines as they complete normal farm operations that they have always been allowed to do, as they see fit, to their land. An IFBF analysis showed that 97 percent of the land in Iowa could be covered under various WOTUS provision. That includes people in town wanting to fertilize your yards or spray for noxious weeds.

Please contact your legislatures and tell them to support a bill that would stop WOTUS and the EPA from making rules and regulations. That is why we elected them to serve us in Washington.

Rebecca Dostal

Letter to the Editor: EPA rules

Dear Editor,

As a farmer in the United States of America, it deeply affected me when the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) overstepped its bounds by establishing new rules and regulations to the Clean Water Act. I am by no means against clean water, but is it up to the EPA to make laws? I thought that was up to our legislatures. For those of you who do not know what I am talking about, the controversial new Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rules have already taken effect in Iowa and 36 other states, which redefines what waters are covered under the federal Clean Water Act. This not only affects farmers but any land owners including those in town with yards that water periodically runs through during a rain storm.

To put it in a condensed version, many common farming practices, such as tillage, pesticide application and pond construction, may need permits or permission just to be done on your land. Farmers in Iowa and around the country are now facing uncertainties and potential delays, red tape and steep fines as they complete normal farm operations that they have always been allowed to do, as they see fit, to their land. An IFBF analysis showed that 97 percent of the land in Iowa could be covered under various WOTUS provision. That includes people in town wanting to fertilize your yards or spray for noxious weeds.

Please contact your legislatures and tell them to support a bill that would stop WOTUS and the EPA from making rules and regulations. That is why we elected them to serve us in Washington.

Rebecca Dostal