WASHINGTON — Between trade wars and the pandemic, the last several years have been difficult for soybean farmers like Jed Clark in Graves County, Kentucky.

This month the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced they intend to revise the much-litigated Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule. WOTUS is an Obama-era rule that expands the reach of the Clean Water Act of 1972, the primary federal law governing water pollution. The Trump administration significantly rolled back the regulation. 

As the Biden administration appears to be reversing course, Clark fears further federal regulation. 

“Farmers are great stewards of the land. We take care of our waterways. We want clean water. It's very important for us to have clean water as an industry,” Clark said.

He believes WOTUS is overwhelming, too broad and that farmers often aren't afforded a seat at the table when decisions are made at the federal level. His Congressman, Republican James Comer, agrees. 

“It was a burden on farmers that really shouldn't have been there. It was something that a bureaucrat in Washington that's never worked on a farm, tried to implement, and they didn't understand the consequences," Comer said.

As an example, Comer said the initial rule would have tied the hands of farmers whose fields took on the characteristics of wetlands after heavy rains.

"It's not uncommon to find mud puddles everywhere. By the Waters of the U.S. rule, those farmers couldn't plant corn through there, or any other crop, tobacco, or wheat or soybeans, they would have to go around it,” Comer said.

“When you take a place like Kentucky that will average 25 to 35 inches of rainfall over a year and then you look at a place like maybe South Dakota, which may only get 7 or 8 to 10, there's a lot of different farming practices that go in to help conserve the water. What we're looking at is, this doesn't need to be painted as a broad spectrum with a brush that every rule applies to the whole nation. We need to look at each area of the country,” Clark said.

At the core of the debate: should farm ponds and small streams be regulated in the same way as much larger bodies of water like lakes and rivers? Ryan Richards, an environmental policy expert at the left-leaning think tank Center for American Progress, said the Biden administration will seek input from farmers and agricultural landowners.

“What they want to take a look at is, what kind of rule is going to meet the standards laid out by the Clean Water Act, follow science as a guide, and really achieve that goal of clean water,” Richards said.

“The Clean Water Act has been a very important environmental law. In the 40 years since it was passed, you no longer see rivers catching fire. That's a big plus. But at the same time, there's a lot of work that needs to be done to really achieve the goals the law sets out,” he added.

In April, EPA administrator Michael Regan told a Senate panel, “We’re not going to pull a rule off the shelf especially after we’ve learned so much over the years.”

Regan said the agency will work with farmers.