WOTUS, rest of Biden’s mandates belong in trash

In May, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously struck down President Joe Biden’s Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule. With no congressional, stakeholder or farmer input, the Environmental Protection Agency made slight revisions to that rule last week, which was an overt federal government overreach by the Biden administration.

By eliminating the use of the “significant nexus” test — which wrongfully authorized the EPA to regulate puddles, ponds, and streams on private land — Iowa farmers and producers will regain some autonomy over their farmland. However, this minor alteration of WOTUS continues to throw our rural communities into uncertainty.

Serving on both the House Agriculture Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee, I firmly believe that we need to throw WOTUS in the trash where it belongs and incorporate the opinions of real farmers and businesses — not unelected bureaucrats and liberal activists — to write a rule that protects our waters, respects private land rights, and ensures that our producers can continue to feed our country without burdensome regulations.

In late 2022, under the guise of clean water, the Biden administration repackaged the worst excesses of President Obama’s WOTUS rule and forced our farmers to comply with mountains of paperwork, confusing regulations and counterintuitive mandates.

Of course, federal bureaucrats wouldn’t know that heavy rain or strong storms leave farms covered with temporary puddles and streams, which are impossible to contain.

These same clueless bureaucrats ignore the fact that our farmers are the best stewards of their land. After all, it is the source of their livelihoods. From installing buffer strips and bioreactors to planting cover crops, our farmers exercise common-sense conservation practices to keep our water clean and drinkable.

The Biden administration overlooks these local solutions to instead impose the heavy hand of government into the lives of our producers and rural communities.

Representing the second-largest agriculture-producing district in the nation, I know that our farmers and their families know how to best protect their land, grow their crops, raise their livestock and make a living.

So long as government stays out of their way, our producers can thrive, contribute to our economy and deliver affordable, nutritious food to American families nationwide. I’ve seen the fruits of their labor firsthand while I tour farms that have been in the family for generations on my Feenstra Agriculture Tour. They just want to do their jobs and farm the land without government interference, backbreaking taxes and endless red tape.

President Biden and his radical advisers made a big mistake when they intentionally targeted America’s farmers with WOTUS and other Green New Deal agenda items. Food production is a tough business, and we should be encouraging the next generation of producers to continue our time-honored tradition of agriculture in Iowa.

Regrettably, the Biden administration’s regulations only disincentivize young people from starting their own farms. I won’t let this happen.

As Iowa’s voice in Congress, I will do everything in my power to overturn the entirety of WOTUS and restore local control to our farmers.

The Supreme Court made it clear that the Biden administration should rethink any new WOTUS regulation, and I’m appalled that this proposed rule was crafted behind closed doors and without any input from America’s heartland.

Through both policy and advocacy, I’m confident that we can eliminate overreaching regulations, support our farm families, and let Iowa farmers do what they do best — feed and fuel our country and the world. I pledge that I will continue to be the strongest advocate for American agriculture because our farmers and producers deserve nothing less than a fighter.