North Dakota Stockmen's Association

12/12/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 12/12/2025 15:12

Stockmen’s Association executive testifies at Waters of the United States listening session

Posted 12/12/2025

For immediate release:
Dec. 12, 2025
For more information, contact:
Randy Schmitt, North Dakota Stockmen's Association president: (701) 537-3440 • [email protected]
Julie Schaff Ellingson, North Dakota Stockmen's Association executive vice president: (701) 223-2522 • [email protected]

Stockmen's Association executive testifies at

Waters of the United States listening session

North Dakota Stockmen's Association (NDSA) Executive Vice President Julie Ellingson, a fourth-generation cattle rancher, testified this morning at a Waters of the United States (WOTUS) Listening Session hosted by Sen. Kevin Cramer in Bismarck, N.D. Sen. John Hoeven, Governor Kelly Armstrong and federal officials from the Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers joined him. The session was the first of two listening sessions that will be held in the United States before the proposed WOTUS rule comment period closes on Jan. 5.
Ellingson applauded the trajectory of the rule as a much clearer, appropriate and durable product than previous renditions that have caused uncertainty, project delays and unnecessary costs for cattle producers.
"With the proposed rule, we have come a long way in addressing cattlemen's and cattlewomen's concerns about WOTUS," she said.
Ellingson pointed out that, collectively, cattle producers are the nation's largest land manager, grazing on nearly a third of the continental landmass. "So, if we are talking about direct impacts of expanded regulatory authority over water features, ranchers are the tip of the spear," she said. "In a time when regulatory changes pressure-test our producers daily, a legally and practically narrow WOTUS definition is critical to ensuring that our industry can continue to maintain America's grassland ecosytems, natural water filters and wildlife habitat."
The NDSA strongly supports the agencies' proposed two-part test for the jurisdictional tributary category, which requires the existence of both continuous surface flow and physical indicators. "We additionally support the explicit exclusion of ephemeral features, ditches, subsurface drainage, stock ponds and waste treatment systems," Ellingson added.
Ellingson said the proposed is a significant improvement over earlier versions. "It is leap years' ahead in recognizing private property rights and state's rights and, hopefully, will bring forth the clarity cattle producers and others have been seeking for decades."
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