Branstad speaks against proposed EPA water rule

Gov. Terry Branstad joined a coalition of agriculture, business and government leaders Monday to voice opposition to a proposed rule they say could require farmers to get federal permits to do work around ditches, culverts and irrigation ponds.

The proposal from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency aims to clarify which waterways fall under federal oversight.

Branstad said the rule would add bureaucratic layers, making it more difficult for farmers to implement conservation practices that improve water quality.

The EPA "is blind to what is really going on in the real world," he said. "To me, it seems like maybe good intentions, but counterproductive."

But farm conservation practices aimed at improving water quality are only voluntary and more oversight is needed, environmental groups say.

"It's not burdensome. It's clearly what is needed to protect our water from dirty ag, from corporate ag," said Deborah Bunka, a volunteer with Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement.

Members of the group demonstrated outside the meeting, which was organized by the Homebuilders Association of Iowa and held at the Iowa Association of Business and Industries office in downtown Des Moines. Their chanting was loud enough to briefly disrupt the meeting.

"They ought to quit shouting and start listening to the people who will be most affected," Branstad said. The proposed rule "is going to prevent the things we're doing to clean the water."

The EPA has said the rule does not expand its authority and that all normal farming practices are exempt.

Representatives of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, the Iowa Department of Transportation, the Iowa League of Cities and several agriculture and business groups, though, said the proposed rule was too ambiguous.

Joel Brinkmeyer, CEO of the Agribusiness Association of Iowa, said he is concerned it could require farmers to obtain a federal permit anytime they spray fertilizer.

"We believe strongly that this rule cannot be amended to be fixed," he said. "It needs to be ditched."

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey said the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture recently voted to ask the EPA to drop the proposed rule, rather than try to alter it.

"This rule, from our point of view, isn't even fixable, certainly not with the attitude the EPA has right now," he said.