Biden slammed over 'problematic' water regulation that could lead farmers to foot the bill: John Boyd, Jr.
John Boyd, Jr., president of the National Black Farmers Association, slams an environmental regulation that he claims could hinder farmers' everyday operations and raise costs.
The Biden administration's latest change to the Clean Water Act is catching flak from farmers and ranchers who say it could leave them grappling with policy gray areas and footing the bill for new measures needed to comply with federal regulations.
National Black Farmers Association President John Boyd Jr. slammed the White House Thursday for keeping farmers in the dark on formulating policies that impact their industry.
"Farmers were not at the table when the Biden administration continued to put these policies out," Boyd Jr. told Todd Piro on "Fox & Friends First."
"They exclude the farmers and want us to not be part of the dialogue, and they want us to go by these rules and regulations."
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The Biden administration's changes to the "Clean Water Act" came under fire Thursday for allegedly complicating policy involving waterways on farms and ranches. (Anna Moneymaker)
The policy change, which would redefine which waters are federally protected according to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards, aims to "safeguard [America's] waters, strengthen economic opportunity, and [protect] people’s health," according to EPA Administrator Michael Regan.
Boyd Jr. argued that farmers know best about taking care of their land and implementing such stringent policies only complicates the process.
"It's more on top of what we're already faced with. Now, we're actually importing more food into this country than we're exporting, and it's because we're not investing in small-scale farmers and America's farmers and infrastructure for [them]," he said.
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The EPA's latest change to the Clean Water Act is making farmers and ranchers scratch their heads as they try to figure out a solution to increased regulations on waterways. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
"I believe the administration got it wrong, and they really need to come back to the table and work with America's farmers so that they can help create the policies that we need to help better our farms."
The battle over how to define protected water sources in the U.S. stretches back nearly a decade. During the Obama administration, the EPA issued a rule broadly defining waterways in an effort to reduce water pollution. Then the Trump administration reversed the rule and highlighted which water sources — such as puddles, groundwater, many ditches, farm and stock watering ponds and waste treatment systems — that it wouldn't consider in need of federal protection.
The Biden administration largely restored the pre-Trump regulations before the end of 2022.
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In a recent statement, Zippy Duvall, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, criticized the Biden administration's decision, echoing Boyd's claim that the regulations would complicate farmers' and ranchers' work.
"Farmers and ranchers share the goal of protecting the nation's waterways, but they deserve rules that don't require a team of attorneys and consultants to identify ‘navigable waters’ on their land," the statement read.
Fox News' Thomas Catenacci contributed to this report.
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