January 3, 2001

American Farm Bureau Federation members face the new year with "optimism and enthusiasm," says AFBF President Bob Stallman. "We have the opportunity to work with a new administration and a new Congress to implement our policies that will provide us with economic and social benefits," Stallman says.

However, he cautioned that often congressional intent and regulatory decree vary "widely." Frequently "there comes the time when reason, persuasion and cooperation fail and we must turn to the courts to assure fair treatment." He predicted "career bureaucrats will rule," especially on environmental issues, because of the "incredibly close balance between Republicans and Democrats in both houses of Congress."

Party-line responses will preclude Congress from initiating reforms and conducting the necessary oversight of the agencies and departments, Stallman adds. "Having so many of our Farm Bureau policies implemented by court order is both distressing and expensive and very necessary as long as bureaucrats issue regulations contrary to the law."

"Arbitrary" Environmental Protection Agency water standards threaten to cost three California families' timber operations $10 million in lost timber revenue, "even though they have a state-approved harvesting plan," Stallman notes. "EPA does not have, and admits it does not have, authority over states to regulate nonpoint source pollution."

"Contrived" air quality standards are just as costly. "A rule calling for lower sulfur content in diesel fuel exhaust will cost us thousands of dollars to retrofit or replace our engines. A rule aimed at lowering particulate matter in the air – like dust – would require extraordinary changes in our farming practices. So we are in the U.S. Supreme Court arguing that EPA must take into account the costs of regulations on businesses and consumers, in addition to any health benefits," says Stallman.

"Another of our efforts before the U.S. Supreme Court also involves the Clean Water Act. We want the court to overturn a lower court's decision that isolated wetlands come under the Corps of Engineers jurisdiction because migratory birds use them. Agency rules specify that isolated wetlands are part of the waters of the U.S. even if not adjacent to navigable waters in interstate commerce. The Corps says if a goose will visit the site, it is jurisdictional. By broadening the definition to include scattered ponds and prairie potholes, an additional 93 million acres of agricultural land will come under the Corps' regulatory thumb. We expect a decision in June," he adds.

In addition, a federal district court judge soon will consider a Farm Bureau lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency for its "heavy-handed implementation of the Food Quality Protection Act," says Stallman. "Our goal is to make the agency adhere to sound science in the belief that this will assure farmers and ranchers continued access to safe, effective and economical agricultural chemicals. In the agency's zeal to eliminate pesticides, it has failed to announce emergency exemption tolerance levels; failed to comply with important procedural requirements and coerced pesticide manufacturers to agree `voluntarily' to the discontinuation of targeted chemicals."