Corn Growers Ask for Extension on Waters of the U.S. Ruling

The National Corn Growers Association (NGCA) is expressing the need for more time to review facts and address concerns surrounding the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Waters of the U.S. ruling before it becomes final on August 28.

In July, the EPA assured the NGCA that there would be no new risks to growers associated with the ruling. However, since then, the NGCA has raised concerns with the EPA’s interpretation of the ruling, the preamble, and the EPA’s field record of its actions regarding these issues.

Meanwhile, the Army Corp of Engineers has also expressed concerns surrounding the legality and science of the ruling, claiming that the EPA has used Corp data out of context, has mixed disjointed data sets, and has confused terminology leading to inappropriate assumptions. These findings have led the Corp to state in an April 27, 2015 memo, "The rule's contradictions with legal principles generate multiple legal and technical consequences that in the view of the Corps would be fatal to the rule in its current form."

Based on these questions and the EPA staff’s lack of a universal understanding of the method of implementation of the ruling moving forward, the NCGA has requested an extension of the effective date for the finalization of the ruling in a letter set to EPA administrator, Gina McCarthy.