Released Documents Assert Flawed Rulemaking Process Related To Waters Rule

On July 30, 2015, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform released documents revealing the Army Corps of Engineers' ("Corps") disapproval of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") officials' rulemaking process in producing the "Waters of the United States" final rule. The Corps asserts that EPA based its expansion of the categories of bodies of waters subject to federal pollution controls on a flawed economic analysis. The Corps' documents maintain, for example, that it would be "difficult to determine whether a [pond] after a rainstorm ..." would be regulated "water" or an excluded "puddle." These documents also echo some of the American Farm Bureau Federation's ("AFBF") concerns about the controversial rule. AFBF President Bob Stallman referred to the "flawed economic study" as only one of the issues surrounding the rule. The AFBF is calling for an immediate withdrawal of the rule and a redraft that better addresses the concerns of affected