Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, essentially, the LaMalfa amendment would prohibit funds from being used to enforce the criteria for abandoned prior converted cropland. Currently, if land categorized as prior converted cropland has not been used for agricultural purposes for 5 consecutive years, if the owner of that land wanted to fill or dredge it, they would need to get a section 404 permit from the Corps, and those are generally wetlands. So this amendment would basically create a ``once exempted from having to get a Section 404 permit, always exempted'' standard, overturning 35 years of Federal policy. The amendment makes a significant change to the Clean Water Act regulations, one that deserves thoughtful consideration. Under current law and regulation, activities that convert wetlands that occur as a part of existing ongoing farming, ranching, and silviculture activities do not require section 404 wetlands permits. Let me repeat that for my colleagues. The Clean Water Act explicitly exempts certain activities from regulation, including normal agricultural activities like plowing fields, planting and harvesting crops, and maintaining irrigation and drainage ditches. The gentleman from California wants to go further than the exemptions already in the law and in the underlying bill.…”