Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, this amendment seeks to preserve our current Clean Water Act protections for our rivers, streams, and wetlands. Our Nation's river systems and wetlands provide values that no other ecosystem can. These include: natural water quality improvement, flood protection, shoreline erosion control, recreation, general aesthetic appreciation, and natural products for our use at no cost. Yet section 430 of this bill seeks to undermine the critical balance between protecting these waters and the day-to-day operations of our Nation's farmers, ranchers, and foresters. Under current law, farmers, ranchers, and foresters can carry out their normal operations in any waterbody without securing a Clean Water Act permit. So what this means is farmers can continue to plow their fields, including potential wet areas that have been farmed for decades, plant their seeds, harvest their crops, without ever having to obtain approval under the Clean Water Act. Any normal farming, ranching, and forestry exemption is going to include minor limitations. For example, a farmer cannot use the current exemption to convert his farmland to a residential development without obtaining a permit. And a rancher can't use the exemption to plow under a wetland to expand his reach of grazing lands. And forestry operations cannot use this exemption to change the course of a local stream to improve drainage on their growing lands.…”