Protecting Your Farm from the EPA
The Sackett Impact Three Years Later
Overview
For more than fifty years, farmers and ranchers operated under the shadow of a changing administrative sword. The Clean Water Act (CWA) of 1972, while noble in its intent to maintain the integrity of the nation’s waters, became an instrument of severe regulatory overreach. By expanding the statutory phrase “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) to encompass dry desert arroyos, ephemeral drainage ditches, and isolated pastures, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. …