LANSING – Rules designed to more

clearly protect streams and wetlands around the country were finalized by the

federal government on Wednesday, but since the state operates its own water

programs under the Clean Water Act, the Department of Environmental Quality

will not be immediately affected, an official said.

Kim Fisher, with the water resources

division at DEQ, said the rules were only finalized Wednesday, so their impact

in the state is not yet known. However, because Michigan is one of only two

states that assumed authority of its water programs, the federal government

will give the state time to modify its programs if that is deemed necessary.

“There is no immediate effect,”

she said.

A statement announcing the rule

developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps

of Engineers says the rule ensures that waters protected under the Clean Water

Act are more precisely defined and predictably determined, making permitting

less costly, easier and faster for businesses and industry. It also does not

create any new permitting requirements for agriculture and maintains all

previous exemptions and exclusions.

However, the Michigan Farm Bureau

said it is “sorely” disappointed in the EPA.

“The new rule is bad news for

farm families in Michigan, allowing the EPA to regulate far beyond its

authority as prescribed by Congress and affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court,”

the group said in a statement. “The rule’s clarification is – still – a

thinly-veiled power grab enabling EPA regulators to usurp control over every

unnamed county drain, every farm ditch and every low spot that briefly collects

rainwater after a thunderstorm.”

But Nic Clark, with Clean Water

Action Michigan, praised the new rule, saying streams and wetlands feeding the

Kalamazoo and Detroit rivers have been at risk for almost a decade.

“We applaud the Obama

administration for finalizing the Clean Water Rule and restoring Clean Water

Act protections to 48 percent of our streams and thousands of acres of

wetlands. The Clean Water Rule protects the drinking water sources of one in

seven Michiganders,” Clark said in a statement. “The Clean Water Rule is

vital to Michigan. We have fought for more than 12 years to close the loopholes

that left so many streams and wetlands vulnerable to pollution and

destruction.”

This story was published by Gongwer

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