Say No to WOTUS, POTUS
By Rep. Dusty Johnson
June 11, 2021
On Monday, I sat down with the South Dakota Corn & South Dakota Soybean Associations in Valley Springs. For over an hour, I heard directly from producers on concerns they have, the challenges of the last four years, as well as the emerging opportunities. From workforce to trade to farm programs, there was a common goal amongst both groups: greater predictability.
Every two to four years, power can shift in Washington – that constant changing of the guard can cause problems for these producers. Farm programs and regulations change, and often, those changes aren’t for the better.
This week the Biden Administration’s Environmental Protection Agency announced they will be revisiting the Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rule dictating which bodies of water are subject to EPA regulation. For those unfamiliar, the Obama-era WOTUS rule granted the federal government regulatory control over any “body” of water on private land. Basically, if there’s a dry ditch, ephemeral stream or certain converted farmland, the federal government would have the power to regulate your property.
This rule was confusing and poorly written – it created a lot of uncertainty in farm country. I was proud to work with the Trump Administration to get the WOTUS rule repealed and replaced with a more practical approach. Farmers and ranchers should not need a team of engineers, lawyers, and consultants each time they want to manage their property. We need to protect our waters and be good stewards of our land but regulating ditches and puddles didn’t meet that goal.
Under President Trump, the EPA replaced WOTUS with the Navigable Waters Protection Rule – this policy protected our larger navigable waters from pollution rather than placed unnecessary burdens on farmers potholes.
If you’ve spent much time with farmers and ranchers, you’ll know they care about preserving our waters and lands more than most – they are diligent stewards of the land. Why the Biden Administration is set on taking every page from Obama’s playbook despite knowing the WOTUS rule was a giant flop is a mystery to me.
It’s possible to be environmentally conscious without harming producers – I hope the Biden Administration remembers that as they explore this out of touch WOTUS rule.
Rep. Johnson meets with South Dakota Corn and South Dakota Soybean Associations.
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Dusty is a cafeteria Republican. He failed Trump and that resulted in Biden. He has no one to blame but himself.
Trump failed us. He said he had an election fraud machine to preserve evidence in place. He had nothing. Blaming others is what losers do.
I support Dusty in this as the Federal government, especially under a Marxist administration, should not be given more power. I do agree that Dusty didn’t stand by President Trump enough and I disagree with his support of Liz Cheney and his support of the January 6th commission farce.
However, I don’t agree with Troy that President Trump is a loser; I do believe that there was a lot of fraud in the voting, and I think it is certainly common knowledge that President Trump was fighting his whole administration against idiotic, partisan impeachment, investigations, and general b.s. charges; that doesn’t even touch on the lies of main stream media and their total disregard of journalistic integrity or honor of any type.
I think that given the lackluster support of President Trump by our SD contingent, and the cannibalization by people like Bill Kristol, George Will, and the so-called “Lincoln Project”, President Trump was fighting a very tough battle with traitors in his midst.
The guy is a self made billionaire and President of the US and we act like he was a nobody with the world against him.
His campaign and the RNC had the means to have the best legal and logistical anti fraud infrastructure in place. President Trump said he had it open place. The day after the election was over it was clear he had squat. And he blames others for it. He is a loser. I expected more from him.
Why would you expect more from him? He claimed fraud when Cruz beat him in Iowa in the 2016 primaries. He claimed fraud when he lost the popular vote in the 2016 generals. He claimed fraud AHEAD of the 2020 election and then claimed fraud when he lost. When are you going to admit that it’s not about fraud but about his ego?