President Donald Trump took the stage at the American Farm Bureau Federation Convention, highlighting agricultural victories in 2019.
Speaking to the crowd on Sunday, Trump announced plans to take another step to protect the water rights of America’s Farmers and Ranchers.
Under the previous administration, the Army Corps of Engineers proposed a new Water Supply rule that would give the federal government vast and unlimited power to restrict farmers’ access to water. That’s not a good thing. Is anybody happy with being restricted to water if you have a farm? Please stand up if you are happy about that. Because this authority rightfully belongs to the states, not the bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. That is why I am directing the Corps of Engineers to immediately withdraw the proposed rule -- just submitted recently, meaning last administration -- and allow states to manage their water resources based on their own needs and based on what their farmers and ranchers want.
In September, the Trump Administration released a rule which scrapped the previous Obama-era definition. The new rule reverts waterway protection back to the 1986 standards.
