U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer says he will block confirmation of future Trump nominees until the administration changes a Biden-era wetlands rule he said tramples on farmers.
Cramer, R-N.D., said the rule violates private property rights by creating enormous setbacks for drain tile from wetland easements. Those easements are pieces of private land the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service purchased years ago to permanently protect habitat. Drain tile is plastic pipe that carries away excess moisture.
Cramer said he recently called President Donald Trump to address the matter. The rule majorly affects North Dakota because the state makes up a large portion of the Prairie Pothole Region, he said. That wetland area is important habitat for ducks and geese.
“This is a left-wing, environmentalist extremist dream rule,” Cramer told the North Dakota Monitor.
Last month, Fish and Wildlife asked for public comments on the 2024 rule. On Aug. 14, the agency said “no further action is planned” as it reviews feedback from more than 200,000 commenters.
“Our administration is dedicated to protecting both the wetland easements purchased by the FWS that are necessary to protect our conservation heritage as well as the private landowners’ use of their lands outside the easement boundaries,” Fish and Wildlife said on social media.
It’s unclear where the agency’s process will go next. Fish and Wildlife did not respond to an email and an online message from the Monitor.
Cramer said, “The Fish and Wildlife Service can say they’re pausing, but as I said, I can’t pause my aggression.”
The senator said he called Trump on Wednesday night when no other officials would call him back. Trump asked how he could fix it and said he planned to call Interior Secretary and former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, according to Cramer. Fish and Wildlife is housed within the Interior Department.
“I’m more optimistic today than I was before,” Cramer said late Thursday.
The Senate is in recess until Sept. 14. Cramer said he already has put a hold on every pending nominee, which would cause a significant disruption to the chamber’s business if the holds are still in place when senators return to Washington next month.
Cramer said he told Trump the administration needs to evaluate the comments and “pull the pause off of the action.”
“That’s all you have to do: restore the process that they were under and utilizing,” Cramer said. Ultimately, a class-action lawsuit by farmers might be necessary, he said.
The issue at hand is Fish and Wildlife and the Natural Resources Conservation Service, both federal government agencies, are playing by different rules when it comes to drain tile setbacks, said Ryan Wanzek, whose family farms in east-central North Dakota in the Prairie Pothole Region.
“They’ve changed the goalposts,” Wanzek said.
His family farm in Stutsman County has not tiled on easement land because it’s not worth drawing up the plans only to have the federal agencies change their minds, he said.
“It makes it harder for us as farmers to go and get a clear answer when we’ve got two different agencies, both run by the same administration, telling us two different things,” Wanzek said.
Many wetland easements house zero wildlife and are basically white, salty soil farmers cannot improve, Wanzek said.
“Whether you like it or not, if there’s crop there, it houses wildlife. It feeds the wildlife. If there’s not crop there and it’s white, salty soils, it’s not doing anything for the wildlife,” he said.
The North Dakota Wildlife Federation supports the rule. The rule ensures habitat for ducks and protection for compliant landowners if their easements dry up, Federation Executive Director John Bradley said. The rule also takes soil types and hydrology into account, complex factors that aren’t blanket standards, he said.
The Dakotas produce more than 50% of North America’s mallards, blue-winged teal, pintails, gadwalls and other game ducks, Bradley said. North Dakota has an important job to protect wetlands for everybody, he said.
Landowners were fairly compensated for the easements in the first place, Bradley said. Hunters’ duck stamp dollars purchased the easements, he said. Cramer’s comments are out of touch with the everyday North Dakota duck hunter, he said.
“To say that it’s either these rich Southern duck hunters or radical environmentalists who have concerns or vested interest in keeping these wetlands – certainly, I’m sure some do, but that glosses over the average duck hunter of North Dakota,” Bradley said.
North Dakota Monitor reporter Jack Dura can be reached at jdura@northdakotamonitor.com.
Originally published on northdakotamonitor.com, part of the BLOX Digital Content Exchange.
Please disable your ad blocker, whitelist our site, or purchase a subscription
Sorry, an error occurred.
Already Subscribed!
Cancel anytime
Thank you .
Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in.
Check your email for details.
Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password.
An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the email address listed on your account.
No promotional rates found.
Secure & Encrypted
Thank you.
Your gift purchase was successful! Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in.
| Rate: | |
| Begins: | |
| Transaction ID: |
A receipt was sent to your email.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.