EPA Shows 'Arrogant Disdain' for Congress

August 1, 2000

The American Farm Bureau Federation believes the Environmental Protection Agency showed "arrogant disdain" for Congress last month by issuing rules and regulations "to thwart legislative direction for dealing with municipal, industrial and agricultural runoff." Agency officials unveiled their plan to establish maximum impairment levels for all bodies of water that it will regulate.

AFBF President Bob Stallman says EPA. s action "fails to recognize regional differences in climate and terrain, factors noted by Congress when it originally wrote clean water legislation a quarter of a century ago. Back then, Congress kept the control of runoff with state and local governments. Unlike today's administration, they recognized that `one size fits all. regulations would not adequately address the different micro-environments that compose this country."

Stallman continued, "Under the banner of stopping pollution, EPA is foisting arbitrary standards on states. The agency continually points at farmers and ranchers as the main polluters of the nation's rivers and lakes. EPA based its charge on its own National Water Quality Inventory, a review that is so seriously flawed and scientifically lacking that other government agencies openly dismiss the fragmentary data and biased conclusions."

Representatives from AFBF, state natural resource departments, and numerous other water quality specialists" have tried to work with EPA officials to create a cooperative atmosphere that will result in landowners voluntarily striving for improved water quality, rather than subjecting citizens to yet another federal licensing scheme."

AFBF developed "Proud Water Partners," a voluntary, locally managed, incentive-based, positive, informative program for rural citizens and landowners that will improve the quality of local water resources.

The program is designed to allow neighbors to develop a plan that will meet or exceed federal water quality standards established by the EPA. "But, since there is no place for federal regulators to regulate in our plan, EPA bureaucrats don't like it and want to mandate new rules that they would police," says Stallman.

"There is no doubt in my mind that working together locally, we can accomplish much. Our record of 81 years of accomplishments shows that the Farm Bureau way succeeds. This program works. At watersheds where we have local involvement, water quality is improving. Pollution is identified and reduced. Rural citizen and landowner awareness is heightened. Cooperation is increased. Credible information on the watershed is built. And appropriate management practices are implemented.