St. Lawrence County legislators are opposing proposed changes to the Clean Water Act that they say would hurt famers.

At a finance committee meeting Monday legislators passed a resolution opposing a rule change that would give the federal government more authority of local waters.

“The rule change proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers would subject all physical areas with a connection to downstream navigable waters, including features such as ditches, natural or man-made ponds, and flood plains to the jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act,” the resolution says.

“The proposed rule change would cause significant harm to farmers, stall the development of business, take control of land used for sustainable food production out of our local providers’ hands and negatively impact county-owned and maintained infrastructure such as roadside ditches and flood-control channels.”

Legislators say the cost to farms, municipalities and taxpayers would be enormous.

“It is impractical for the federal government to regulate every ditch, pond and rain puddle that may have some tenuous connection, miles away, to a body of water currently defined as navigable,” the resolution says.

The full board of legislators is expected to pass the resolution at the June 2 meeting.

It will be forwarded to state and federal representatives.