This has been going on for a while. I first became aware of it here from 2014:
https://www.nrdc.org/brewers-clean-waterI took it upon myself to write an e-mail promising to avoid buying beer from any brewer on the list and sent it to all of brewers of the craft beers that I endulge in...and I drink to much.
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The EPA's push for increased control of 'water' and their WOTUS
stuff is not about 'clean water'. It is about control of land,
and anyone who has researched this and read the various 'action
plans' understands the deal. I think that one of the reasons
why there are few West Coast brewers on this list is that we on
the West Coast recognize this and how detrimental it will be to
our quality of life.
I, as someone who is fairly politically progressive and
environmentally aware, am quite conscious of this mainly
because Oregon's DEQ recently exercised flat-out straight-up
racketeering on me. This got me researching the whole 'sustainability'
scam set up by the likes of Ken Lay of Enron fame and more recently
Hank Paulson of 'marshal law if no bailout' fame.
Maybe the waters East of the Rocky Mountain suck due to
agricultural run-off and that is why the brewers out there care
(or pretend to.) Let's assume that and play it out. What good
is it going to do to give the Federal authorities the legal
right to screw with everybody about their mud-puddle? They
are not going to stop agriculture or everyone will starve.
Half of the higher-ups are going to do the revolving door thing
into big-ag an the other half the revolving door into the growing
eco-industrial complex. Only Fed level politics will change
the ratios somewhat. The grunts on the ground will play their
'petty tyrant' games acting as feeders to the more local
engineering and construction firms. Ask me how I know this.
Back in the day (when I was a kid) the 'environmentalists' were,
as people, about the same as they are now. I grew up among
them. The big difference is they had something worthwhile to
do. Like getting waters cleaned up that were actually filthy
and keeping nuclear plants from being built on top of faults
and so forth. Now those who long for the good old days are
increasingly desperate because their problems have largely
vanished. They are making crap up. Funding is in abundance
because a great deal of the environmental movement is basically
driven by people who see the utility of 'inventory and control'
of all resources.
I happen to have a very sensitive and important river running
right through my property. I take my responsibilities to
preserving it's health seriously. My understandings of the
local ecology come from research and observations over 40
years and not some nebulous ramblings of some condo-dweller
who got his/her graduate degree out of a crackerjack box. Any
old-school scientist who takes the time to actually reads the
East Anglia material (aka, 'climate-gate') rather than just
accept what the media says about it being no big deal should
be prepared to puke. What these people pass off for 'science'
at this point is an utter joke and has made a mockery of 'peer
review' process an almost every other aspect of science.
Anyway, my vote for West Coast brew is more Willamette hops,
less fluoride, and less absurd bureaucratic totalitarianism and
hassles. Feel free to publish my rant if it helps explain why
your brewery wasn't roped into this NRDC PR scam.