By Katy Sword

The Columbian

A bill introduced by Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Battle Ground, intends to accomplish what the Environmental Protection Agency has been unable to do: repeal the Waters of the United States rule.

“It is time for Congress to provide permanent relief for Southwest Washington farmers and landowners who would be so detrimentally impacted by this devastating rule that would cost time, money and jobs,” Herrera Beutler said in a press release.

The rule, also known as the Clean Water Rule, was instituted in June 2015 under President Barack Obama. It was suspended for two years in January.

It was designed to clarify the 1972 Clean Water Act and what bodies of water require a permit for pollution to be discharged, as well as expand protections for large bodies of water like the Puget Sound. The 40-year-old act was muddled by two Supreme Court cases which resulted in lengthy permit disputes.

But the rule sparked opposition from farmers and the agricultural industry. Operators were fearful of costly permits and land improvements required to irrigate land, for example. Many were also concerned the rule would be implemented more broadly than stated by the administration. Canals and ditches specifically were a concern for farmers worried the government would decide the bodies of water, often used to irrigate land, qualify as tributaries of rivers — and thus subject to an expensive permitting process.

2016 study

A 2016 study found the new rule actually reduced EPA’s agricultural oversight, but President Donald Trump agreed with those pushing back on the regulations and called the bill “one of the worst examples of federal regulation.”

One of Trump’s first actions in office was an executive order instructing then-EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt to initiate the process required to rescind and replace the rule, but the process has stalled. Herrera Beutler has been working independently to accomplish Trump’s goal since the Clean Water Rule was first proposed in 2014. She supported legislation that rejected the new definition of “navigable waters” on multiple occasions.

The act would prevent the federal government from defining seasonal wet areas, ponds, puddles and ditches as “navigable waters.”

“It is unthinkable that D.C. bureaucrats and courts would allow the federal government to regulate every pond and ditch on private property — overturning four decades of effective Clean Water Act protection of our lands,” Herrera Beutler said. “My bill is necessary to defend Southwest Washington residents from this egregious government power grab.”