Blocking WOTUS

Congress has voted to block the Waters of the U.S. or WOTUS rule. Rep. Dan Newhouse voted to support passage of H.R 1732, the Regulatory Integrity Protection Act of 2015, requiring the EPA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to withdraw the WOTUS rule.

NEWHOUSE: This rule was seen as an attempt to - really a power grab that would have hurt farmers and landowners. It would have imposed tighter controls over waters that the Clean Water Act really never intended to regulate. It could have been used to expand federal regulation over ponds, streams, irrigation ditches which run right through the middle of crop land.

That could mean having the federal government tell farmers what they can and can't do on their land. The measure was sent on to the Senate.

NEWHOUSE: It's fate there is less clear. As you know the Senate has 54 Republicans s there's not enough to pass something without bipartisan support but then if they even accomplish that it's likely that the President would veto that particular legislation so it's going to take continued work on our part; a different philosophy, a change at the Environmental Protection Agency and so I view this as a good first step.

H.R. 1732 passed the House on a vote of 261–155. The bill gives EPA and the Corps 30 days to withdraw the current WOTUS rule and charges the agencies with developing a new proposal that balances the needs of agriculture, industry and the environment.

That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network of the West.