WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump often points to farmers as some of the biggest winners from the administration’s proposal last month rolling back federal protections for wetlands and waterways across the country.
But under longstanding federal law and rules, farmers and farmland already are exempt from most of the wetlands rules that the Trump administration is targeting.
Government figures suggest that developers, not farmers, would get more regulatory relief under the proposed rollback.
President Donald Trump is set to speak to farmers in New Orleans Monday.
Attorney Geoff Gisler of the Southern Environmental Law Center says the administration is trying to make farmers the face of the rollback. The Trump administration acknowledges builders would benefit more financially, but says farmers would get regulatory clarity under the proposal.
