Karl Brooks: Comment on water rules

When Congress passed the Clean Water Act in 1972, it didn’t just defend the mighty Mississippi or Missouri rivers from pollution. It also protected our smaller streams and wetlands that flow into rivers such as the Arkansas, Kaw, Ninnescah, Smoky Hill and Neosho in Kansas. Streams and wetlands are crucial for fishing, hunting, tourism, agriculture, recreation, energy and businesses.

Under the Clean Water Act, the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released a draft proposal in March that strengthens protection for clean water. Science shows us what kinds of streams and wetlands affect water downstream – so our proposal says that these waters should be protected.

America thrives on clean water. One in three Americans – 117 million of us – gets drinking water from streams, creeks and wetlands currently lacking clear protection. Safeguarding smaller streams is crucial for our economy, too – as recent water contamination in Toledo, Ohio, showed.

The EPA intends to protect clean water without getting in the way of farming and ranching. Normal farming practices including planting, plowing and harvesting have always been exempt from Clean Water Act regulations. Our proposal doesn’t change that.

The Clean Water Act only deals with the pollution and destruction of waterways – not land use. Also, the proposal does not regulate new types of ditches, does not apply to groundwater, and does not change the exemption for stock ponds. The EPA is not interested in a final rule that will make farming more difficult.

I understand that people have questions and concerns about the proposal. We work daily to address them, because everyone agrees that protecting the long-term health of our nation’s waters is essential.

The public comment period on the proposal is open until Oct. 20, and we encourage your input to make sure we craft a strong, workable final rule.

The comment process is enriched when we hear from landowners, the business community, farmers, scientists, conservationists, energy companies, states and local governments. We will not complete the rule until we have carefully reviewed the public comments, until our scientific analysis and peer review are complete, and until we have worked to make the rule understandable, technically accurate and legally correct.

More information is at www2.epa.gov/uswaters.

This story was originally published September 22, 2014 at 7:02 PM with the headline "Karl Brooks: Comment on water rules."