This week, AAI submitted additional comments to the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers on the interpretive rule related to the proposed Waters of the U.S. rule that outlines farming conservation practices that do not require permits.
In May, AAI submitted comments requesting an extension to the initial comment period. Then in June, AAI and nine other Iowa ag associations submitted a letter to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack calling for the withdrawal of the interpretive rule.
In the newly submitted comments, AAI again called for the withdrawal of the interpretive rule and requested an extension of the comment period if the rule is not withdrawn.
AAI also shared specific examples on how the rule will significantly hamper and retard environmental and conservation progress and called for changes to the rule to add exemptions for crop protection product applications, remove compliance ties to NRCS standards entirely for privately-implemented conservation and best management practices, add additional conservation practices and define procedures that will be used to update the list of exempted practices.