All Water Comes Under EPA Regualtion

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You have a nice home in suburbia with a good size yard. You decide to put in a man made fish pond – nothing overly large or spectacular – and all of a sudden you find yourself in violation of EPA water regulations and you are being fined $37,500 per day. So you decide to get rid of the fish pond you created hoping to get out from under the gun. But the EPA comes back at you with another violation, something about tampering with or destroying a water supply. Fines of $37,500 per day continue. The only way to stop the fines is to rebuild the fish pool to EPA specifications, which include thousands of dollars of drainage work and vegetation protection. The price tag to comply – $128,000.

Or in scenario #2 you are not connected to city water and sewage but have your own cesspool and well. You decide to drill a new well and the EPA says that you have infected the underground aquifer with a faulty drill to close to the cesspool along with a cesspool that is leaking sewage.. Fines are immediately assessed at $37,500 per day. Remedy is another new drill for the well in an area way away from the cesspool. Complying with EPA regulations including drilling a new well, removing and closing the cesspool according to regulation, building a new cesspool according to EPA specification and longer water lines is $151,000.

The EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers’ proposed definition of “Waters of the U.S.” has raised grave concern from cattle producers across the country. Today, Jack Field, cattle rancher and Washington Cattlemen’s Association executive vice president, testified before the House of Representatives Small Business Committee to discuss the overregulation and impeding impacts of the rule for rural America.

“First and foremost, the cattle industry prides itself on being good stewards of our country’s natural resources,” said Field, who owns and operates a cattle operation in Washington. “We maintain open spaces, healthy rangelands, preserve wildlife habitat, and provide the country with the juicy ribeyes we all love to throw on the grill. However, to provide all these important functions, cattlemen must be able to operate without excessive federal burdens.”

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association believes the proposed definition of “waters of the United States” expands the federal jurisdiction to include essentially all waters across the country, subjecting landowners to increased regulation and fines of up to $37,500 per day.

The increase in liability will chill landowner participation in conservation activities by making the Natural Resources Conservation Service a regulatory compliance agency. Field testified that the EPA and the Corps’ interpretive rule would make NRCS standards mandatory for all conservation activities, despite whether they are voluntary or cost-shared. (1)