July 14, 2000

TMDL Update

    On Wednesday, July 12th, the Environmental Protection Agency officially finalized its new water quality regulations dealing with Total Maximum Daily Loads (or TMDLs) for runoff from private lands.
    As a result of action taken by Congress, EPA’s new regulations will not take effect until October 2001.
    If these rules are implemented, states will be forced to develop runoff budgets to try to control the nutrients and sediments that flow into lakes and rivers from every source in every watershed in their state.
    While this may sound like a good thing to all of us who are concerned about protecting water quality, the US General Accounting Office and most state water quality managers say that the EPA plan is probably unworkable in its present form.
    During the past year, Congress has held a dozen hearings on this issue and has heard from scores of expert witnesses, most of whom expressed serious concerns about these regulations and the lack of scientific data to support them.
    During these hearings, Congress learned that EPA has held negotiations with selected interest groups, excluding much of the public.
    Following EPA’s private meetings, they backed away from a previous agreement they had made with the USDA, and which had been publicly announced on May 1st.
    It seems EPA thinks they know what’s best and they don’t want to hear from the public or from Congress.
    In fact, EPA’s action has undermined confidence in the fairness of their proposed rule and just makes it harder for all interested parties to work together to craft workable, commonsense solutions to our nation’s water quality problems.
    On two separate pieces of legislation, Congress has indicated that EPA’s proposed rule is not ready to be implemented.
It simply doesn’t make sense for EPA to rush to finalize this rule, especially since it will not actually be implemented for 14 months.  During the next 14 months, EPA has sufficient time to collect public comments, build consensus and to write and republish a rule that we could all support.
    EPA should pull their proposed rule and use a public process in which all affected parties can fully and equally participate to reach a workable goal.  In the meantime, the House Agriculture Committee will be carefully monitoring this situation to make sure that EPA doesn’t ride roughshod over this process.

Agriculture Appropriations

    This past Tuesday the House of Representatives passed the agriculture spending bill for fiscal year 2001.  Fiscal year 2001 technically begins on October 1st of this year.
    This legislation provides $75 billion for the nation’s agriculture, rural development and food and nutrition programs, and includes provisions that will benefit Texas agriculture.
    The boll weevil eradication effort in Texas will benefit from $19.8 million in funding for USDA’s Animal, Plant, Health and Inspection Service (APHIS).
    The Agricultural Research and Extension Center in San Angelo has been designated to receive $300,000 to do animal fiber research.  This will be very important to the wool and mohair industry.
    In addition, the Oral Rabies Vaccination Program in Texas will continue to receive funding for predator control.  This is an important program in the fight against rabies.
    While I worked to secure funding in this legislation for the boll weevil eradication effort, funding for San Angelo’s Agricultural Research and Extension Center, and funding for predator control, I will say this:
    The economic situation in agriculture continues to be extremely weak and I am disappointed in the failure of the leaders in Congress to consider more comprehensive legislation to address the crisis in agriculture.
    The House overwhelmingly passed this legislation by a vote of 339-83, however the Senate has not yet completed action.
    In addition, it still faces the possibility of a veto by the President who has concerns about funding levels for food safety, conservation and agriculture research.

Glickman Authorizes Emergency Haying for Drought Relief

    Agriculture Secretary Glickman has announced that emergency haying will be permitted on some Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) acres in areas of the country hit hardest by this year’s drought.
    CRP is a voluntary program that offers annual rental payments and cost-share assistance to establish long-term resource-conserving cover on eligible land.
    The Secretary’s action will permit approved CRP participants to harvest hay on CRP acreage, providing supplemental forage to producers whose pastures have been devastated by drought.
    To be approved for emergency haying, a county must have suffered at least a 40% loss of normal moisture and forage for the preceding four-month qualifying period.
    USDA will determine which counties will be approved for haying and will require CRP participants to submit applications with their local Farm Service Agency (FSA) offices.
    Haying may be authorized until August 31, 2000, or until disaster conditions no longer exist, whichever comes first.  Only livestock operations located within approved counties are eligible for emergency haying of CRP acreage.
    CRP participants who do not own or lease livestock may rent or lease the haying privilege to an eligible livestock farmer located in an approved county.
    CRP annual rental payments will be reduced 25% to account for the areas hayed.
    At least 50% of the CRP contract acreage must be left unhayed for wildlife.  Other restrictions and limitations also apply.  For more information, contact your local FSA county office.