Some Midwest farmers are cheering a legal ruling that delays new water pollution rules. As Harvest Public Media’s Kristofor Husted reports, the regulations had been slated to go into effect on Friday.
The rules give the EPA power to regulate some streams and tributaries under the Clean Water Act. A federal judge issued an injunction, which will put the rules on pause in thirteen states…including Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska and North and South Dakota.
Those states are suing the agency over the regulations. The EPA says it will enforce the new rules everywhere else.
Many farmers and ranchers have maligned the rules for granting additional authority to the EPA.
“There’s tremendous concern from contractors, from farmers, from county road districts, from cities, from municipalities – tremendous concern about what the rule will mean to them,” says Missouri Farm Bureau President Blake Hurst.
The EPA maintains the regulations are critical for the agency to protect downstream waters from pollution.
