shop online at www.missourivalleyshopper.com December 25, 2018 • Page 7 Revised WOTUS Rule A Win For Landowners, Ag Community And States’ Rights By Sen. Mike Rounds Between the weather, market prices and crop production, farmers and ranchers are already faced with significant uncertainty as they seek to make a profit while feeding and fueling the world. The last thing they need is more uncertainty and overregulation from the federal government. Fortunately, over the past two years, we’ve made significant progress undoing many of the damaging regulations from the previous administration and enacting smarter policies to help our producers flourish and thrive. A recent example is the revised Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rule, which the Trump administration announced earlier this week. WOTUS is a rule that seeks to define the bodies of water that will be regulated under the Clean Water Act of 1972. Originally drafted by the Obama administration, the original WOTUS rule replaced a standard definition of a body of water with a vague definition in which a bureaucrat would make a decision on whether water could be regulated on a case-by-case basis. This vagueness and uncertainty was deeply troubling to many of us who recognized it as a massive power grab by the federal government seeking to expand its power over private property. The revised WOTUS rule gives farmers, ranchers and landowners the certainty they need to know exactly when the Clean Water Act applies to them and when it does not. It adapts the ‘ordinary meaning’ of the term navigable water – essentially oceans, rivers, streams, lakes, ponds and adjacent wetlands – and clarifies that not all water is ‘waters of the U.S.’ Landowners are already good stewards of our land. We don’t need unelected bureaucrats in Washington making ambiguous decisions about land they are not familiar with. Additionally, the rule works with landowners to strengthen water safety – rather than saddle them with unnecessary burdens with little to no benefit to the environment and our water supply. It also respects states’ rights, recognizing that state and tribal governments have a right to regulate and manage their land and water resources themselves. Throughout the process of rewriting WOTUS, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also worked with states, tribes, local governments and other stakeholders who are directly affected to make certain their most pressing concerns have been addressed. As chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Subcom- mittee on Oversight, which oversees the operations of the EPA, we have spent a great deal of time focused on the realworld impact that EPA rules and other federal regulations have on American families. In the case of WOTUS, our committee found that not only was the earlier version of the rule unpopular and unworkable, the previous administration continuously ignored the concerns of farmers, ranchers, agriculture groups, state governors, attorneys general and even its own Small Business Administration before moving ahead with it. The previous administration’s proposed WOTUS rule would have been one of the largest federal land grabs in U.S. history. In completely redefining a ‘navigable’ waterway under the Clean Water Act, it would have given the Army Corps of Engineers and the EPA control of nearly all water, including man-made water management systems, farm ponds, drainage ditches and any other water the federal government wanted to decide has a ‘significant nexus’ to downstream water. This would have required farmers, ranchers and landowners to spend countless hours filling out burdensome paperwork to get permits from the federal government just to conduct normal agricultural activities or spray for weeds Spearfish High School Student Offered Appointment To U.S. Air Force Academy WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds (RS.D.) today announced Spearfish High School student Sierra Hillard has received a fully qualified offer of appointment to the U.S. Air Force Academy, which she intends to accept. Sierra is the daughter of Sue Hillard of Whitewood, SD, and the granddaughter of former South Dakota Lt. Governor Carol Hillard. Sierra was nominated to the Air Force Academy by Rounds. “We congratulate Sierra on this incredible accomplishment,” said Rounds. “Receiving an offer of acceptance to our nation’s service academies is not easy. Sierra has worked very hard in school--she is graduating from Spearfish High School in January 2019 and will graduate from Black Hills State University with an Associate Degree in Applied Health Sciences this month. She is a member of the National Honor Society and the varsity track team, and is involved in volunteer work in her community. We wish her all the best at the Air Force Academy.” “I am thankful for the opportunity to represent South Dakota at the United States Air Force Academy,” said Hillard. “The nomination and appointment are truly a reflection of my out- standing teachers and mentors. After attending summer programs at each academy, I was quite impressed with the scientific research options for Air Force cadets. I hope other students will recognize this amazing opportunity and challenge themselves to ‘aim high.’” Each year, Rounds is able to nominate a select group of eligible students from South Dakota to attend our nation’s four service academies: The U.S. Air Force Academy, U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, U.S. Military Academy at West Point and the U.S. Naval Academy. Congratulations along our county roads. Under the new proposal, federally regulated water would include traditional navigable waters, certain lakes and ponds, tributaries to navigable waters, impoundments of jurisdictional waters and wetlands adjacent to jurisdictional waters. It would not regulate areas that only contain water for periods of time after rainfall, like most ditches, stormwater control features and groundwater, to name a few. I thank the administration for recognizing the damage the previous administration’s WOTUS rule would have had on agricultural operations and job creators. I look forward to working with my colleagues to move this new commonsense proposal forward. The new rule reins in the role of the federal government and provides much-needed certainty to our producers. It is a commonsense proposal that protects our water while allowing our ag community to continue doing their jobs without unnecessary burdens. A 60-day comment period is now underway for anyone wishing to weigh in on the proposal. I encourage anyone who may be affected by the new rule to share their thoughts at www.epa.gov. MV Shopper 665-5884 MV Shopper M I S S O U R I VA L L E Y In Print and Online! M I S S O U R I VA L L E Y AUCTIONS fcsamerica.com Reuse. Repurpose. Really Save! Take a fresh look at the Classifieds, the original way to shop green! THERE’S A REASON REAL ESTATE BUYERS LAND WITH US. When you ?nance farmland with us, you aren’t just another customer – you are a customer-owner. 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