Wicker Opposes Senseless EPA Reporting Requirements for Farmers

Press Release

U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., is joining 27 other senators in asking EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt to challenge the D.C. Circuit Court decision in Waterkeeper v. EPA. The decision overturned a 2008 rule that protected farmers and ranchers from burdensome EPA reporting requirements designed to address harmful industrial pollutions, accidental spills, chemical plant explosions, or the release of other hazardous chemicals.

"Without the farm exemption, these burdensome reporting requirements will subject American farmers and ranchers to unnecessary and unreasonable burdens and potential liability," Wicker said. "Congress never intended for these types of agricultural activities to be under these EPA regulations."

In their letter to Administrator Pruitt, the senators note that the National Response Center (NRC), which received 24,193 reports in 2016, could be overwhelmed with extraneous reports from as many as 100,000 of the nation's farms and ranches.

"If this decision goes unchallenged, local first responders might be prevented from addressing real environmental disasters," Wicker added.

Wicker has aggressively opposed EPA overreach and other burdensome regulations targeting the nation's agricultural producers. He recently sent a letter to President Trump supporting his executive order to review the Obama Administration's "Waters of the United States" rule. In 2014, he was a cosponsor of the "Protecting Water and Property Rights Act of 2014," which sought protections for landowners from EPA overreach.

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