The Environmental Protection Agency has exceeded its authority under the Clean Water Act with proposed water quality rules that target farmers, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation. Not only has EPA sidestepped Congress, but it also has supplanted the responsibility granted the states, says AFBF.

In comments to the EPA, AFBF said the agency's proposals to regulate "nonpoint sources" is not authorized by the Clean Water Act. Nonpoint sources include water that originates from areas such as farm fields and timberland, mainly from storms. AFBF argues the origin and composition of runoff from nonpoint sources is difficult to ascertain, and its impact on water quality is a matter of scientific uncertainty.

Proposals such as EPA's total maximum daily load regulations go beyond the agency's regulatory authority, says AFBF. The act does not authorize EPA to regulate nonpoint sources, list waters impaired by such sources or assign limits to those sources.

"The courts have ruled that federal agencies cannot expand their jurisdiction beyond what is allowed under the Clean Water Act," said AFBF President Bob Stallman. "Yet, EPA continues to barrel down the regulatory track like a runaway train with little regard for the law, legal opinion or America's farming community."

In its comments, AFBF said EPA jurisdiction is limited only to "point source discharges," those traditionally associated with factories, municipalities and other direct, easily identifiable pollution sources.

Congress was "well aware of the challenges associated with nonpoint source pollution" when it approved the CWA in 1972, said AFBF. Given the "vagaries of weather" and "the difficulties involved in predicting and controlling runoff from storm events," Congress realized that nonpoint sources required special consideration and a more relaxed regulatory standard not driven by the type of strict limits imposed on point sources.