Iowa livestock farmers spoke up last week in favor of a plan worked out by state and federal environmental officials that does not automatically require them to obtain federal Clean Water Act (CWA) permits unless their farm actually discharges and they don’t permanently fix the cause of the discharge.

The farmers told the Iowa Environment Protection Com­mission (EPC) that a work plan established last year by the Iowa Department of Natural Re­­sources (DNR) and the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) strikes a good balance of allowing farmers to put in practices to protect the...