Farm Bureau is praising President Donald Trump’s executive order to ditch the Water of the U.S. (WOTUES) Rule, an overreach of federal regulations that Farm Bureaus across the country have been working against for the past three years.

Montana Farm Bureau President Hans McPherson noted, “Montana Farm Bureau had worked with their Congressmen to defeat WOTUS and had put a lot of effort into seeing this onerous rule eliminated. This was a ridiculous rule that the Washington bureaucrats had developed without being held accountable for the harm it would do, especially to America’s farmers and ranchers. President Trump’s campaign promise was to slash burdensome rules holding back the American economy, so we are very pleased to see WOTUS finally ‘ditched.’”

American Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall said, “The flawed WOTUS rule has proven to be nothing more than a federal land grab, aimed at telling farmers and ranchers how to run their businesses. The Environmental Protection Agency failed to listen to farmers’ and ranchers’ concerns when drafting the rule and instead created widespread confusion for agriculture. Under the rule, the smallest pond or ditch could be declared a federal waterway.”

“Farmers and ranchers have been calling for a common-sense approach to regulatory reform, and today the Trump administration responded to that call. EPA has too long been characterized by regulatory overreach that disregards the positive conservation efforts of farmers and threatens their very way of life,” added Duvall. “Today’s action is as much a beginning as an end, and there is much work to do to ensure that any revised rule is transparent and fair for America’s farmers and ranchers.”