The National Pork Producers Council, together with other agricultural groups, has unveiled an interactive website that shows land likely to be regulated under the Waters of the United States rule proposed be EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers.

The maps were developed for 17 states – as diverse as Alaska and Florida and including major hog producing states such as Minnesota, Iowa and North Carolina – by Geosyntec Consultants using U.S. Geologic Survey data.

An analysis of the maps indicates that areas subject to jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act would more than double in most of the 17 states under the proposed rule.

Almost the entire state of Missouri – and, potentially, all the activities in it – for example, would be subject to EPA and Corps of Engineers authority. That power could include a requirement that farmers obtain CWA discharge permits for normal farming practices such as applying fertilizer, filling ditches and planting crops, NPPC and the agricultural organizations have pointed out. Among other concerns with the proposed rule, the groups said it was issued before EPA completed a study on the hydrologic connections between intermittent waters and wetlands and larger bodies of water.

NPPC will be submitting comments on the proposed rule by the Oct. 21 deadline.