A controversial proposed change to how the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency interprets and enforces the 1972 Clean Water Act was the subject of a visit to Hartford on Monday afternoon by the agency’s New England administrator, officials said.
Curt Spalding met by the banks of the Connecticut River with Rob Klee, commissioner of the state’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, as well as Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Rep. John Larson, and representatives of several environmental groups to discuss the proposed rule, which has drawn the ire of farming, mining and other industry groups.
Those groups argue that the rule change could lead to the EPA requiring federal permits for activities that did not require them in the past, such as farming near a seasonal stream that is dry for much of the year.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill earlier this month that would bar the EPA from implementing the new rule.
After U.S. Supreme Court decisions in 2001 and 2006 narrowed the EPA’s authority over certain types of water bodies under the CWA, the EPA said it wants to better articulate the definitions in the law, which gives the EPA authority over “waters of the United States” and “navigable waters.”
For its part, the EPA has characterized much of the industry outcry as misinformation, and addresses various concerns on its “Ditch the Myth” website.
The agency says the proposed rule would increase its regulatory jurisdiction by approximately 3 percent compared to field practices in 2009 and 2010. The agency said the new rule would bring less extensive enforcement as when the existing regulation went into effect in 1986.
The EPA said it will also keep exclusions for waste treatment systems and prior converted cropland.
It said economic benefits could include more regulatory certainty for land developers, farmers and other businesses.
The EPA has also acknowledged that the rule could create indirect costs on some of those very same parties, including application costs, wetland and stream mitigation, project redesign and relocation expenses.
The agency is taking public comment on the proposed rule until Oct. 20.
