Statement: Missouri Corn Growers Call Out EPA On Water Rule

(JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.)–The Missouri Corn Growers Association (MCGA) President Kevin Hurst submitted concerns to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today regarding the agency’s proposed Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rule.
 
“The WOTUS rule sets out to better define a term and principle that is foundational to nearly every federal and state regulatory program that involves water,” Hurst, a corn grower from Tarkio, Mo., said in his comments. “Achieving greater clarity in the meaning of this regulatory term will benefit both regulators and landowners alike. However, we stand firm that it must do so without expanding the reach and jurisdiction beyond what is practicable and legally allowable under the Federal Clean Water Act.”
 
MCGA believes Missouri corn growers will be directly and profoundly affected by this process.
 
“The rulemaking as proposed in the EPA’s ‘Waters of the United States’ represents an egregious overstep of the federal government. The poorly written and ambiguous proposal could effectively impact every piece of wet and dry land in the state. This proposal, as it stands, is an unreasonable, unworkable and unjust bureaucratic burden placed on the backs of America’s corn farmers.”
 
Read the full letter here.