Political Quotes

“I find myself confused by the comments of my distinguished friend from California. Nothing has changed in the law in 40 years. This law has been applied under Democratic and Republican Presidents and administrations. The law is very clear that any normal farming use, forestry, agriculture or ranching is exempt already. It is only a wholesale shift from what the farm's original exemption was intended for that would require a Clean Water Act permit. So if a farmer is, in fact, going to turn out and develop houses, a subdivision, you need a clean water permit. But there is nothing in there that says you need a clean water permit to plow, to plant, or to use the land as it has always been used. My fear is that I don't know of any specific instances where there has been an overinterpretation of existing law, but section 107 would basically throw out the entire baby in order to fix an overinterpretation problem by one or two agents of the Department of Agriculture. Essentially, section 107 says everything is accepted under the Clean Water Act if it is agriculture, forestry, or ranching on that land. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time. Mr. LaMALFA. Mr. Chairman, I would invite my friend, Mr. Beyer, to come talk to the ranchers and farmers who are being hit with these new interpretations and aggressive interpretations coming out of the divisions of northern California to see what is happening to them for simply applying farming techniques to their land. Mr.…”