Clean water will be a part of the conversation on the Hill in 2025 as agricultural groups look for the new Congress and Trump administration to review cumbersome regulations.
Courtney Briggs is the senior director of government affairs with the American Farm Bureau Federation. Her top priorities include protecting farmers from government overreach with the Waters of the United States and from liability for forever chemicals that farmers don’t even use.
WOTUS
Hefty fines and jail time could result from not complying with Waters of the United States, which agriculture groups say has too much gray area and isn’t clear in its intent. Briggs says with a new administration coming in in 2025, there’s an opportunity to improve this regulation for farmers.
WOTUS regulatory definitions have been ping-ponging for decades, Briggs explains. Currently, a farmer could receive a fine of $64,000 per day or jail time for noncompliance.
Briggs says the problem is that the Biden-era WOTUS rule is too vague. For example, the federal government could have control over low spots in your farm field if water is there after a rain. AFBF says this is not what Congress intended when it created the Clean Water Act.
The Trump administration has an opportunity to improve the definitions of terms like “relatively permanent” and “continuous surface connection” to stop government exploitation of WOTUS, explains Briggs.
She notes the perfect outcome would be Congress opening up the Clean Water Act and providing a clear definition in the statute, but that might be too much of an ask.
PFAS
Farmers don’t use PFAS “forever chemicals” in their operations, but they are feeling the effects. AFBF says that the PFAS substances that are found in nonstick cookware and firefighting foam, among other things, are polluting the land and water. Unfortunately, a farm could be liable for that contamination through no fault of their own.
PFAS chemicals don’t break down in the environment. Because they are traveling through the water and sticking to the soil, farm fields are getting contaminated. Briggs says the problem is that there are rules that open farmers up to being liable for PFAS contamination, even when the contamination came from elsewhere.
She says AFBF wants to work with a new EPA and Congress to provide liability shields for farmers.
