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Contact: Scott Faber 202 387-3500
Tim Searchinger 202 387-3500
David Cherry 202 387-3500
Following today's passage of farm legislation in the
U.S. Senate, Environmental Defense called the bill's conservation
title one of the most promising pieces of environmental legislation
to pass since the Clean Air Act amendments a decade ago.
"The conservation title of the Harkin Farm Bill is one of the
most promising pieces of environmental legislation to pass the
Senate in more than a decade," said Environmental Defense senior
attorney Tim Searchinger. "This package will provide unprecedented
resources to reward farmers and ranchers when they help improve
water quality, restore wildlife habitat or limit sprawl."
The conservation title provides $4.4 billion in annual average
conservation spending. The funding includes $1 billion to aid
endangered fish in seven states, $270 million in annual average
spending to restore lost wildlife habitat, $350 million in annual
average spending to preserve farmland threatened by sprawl, and $1.4
billion in annual average spending to improve water quality. The
conservation title will also help restore 1.25 million acres of lost
wetlands and grasslands.
"With Senator Harkin's help, the majority of landowners seeking
federal assistance will no longer be turned away," said
Environmental Defense water resource specialist Scott Faber.
Faber expressed concern that the high levels of commodity
subsidies in the Senate's bill would encourage farmers to plow up
new land to grow crops, but said an amendment successfully offered
by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) would help limit the conversion of
grasslands and pastureland.
"Sen. Durbin's amendment limits subsidies to land that is already
being plowed, so it is likely to save millions of acres of grassland
from being used to produce excess crops," said Searchinger.
### Environmental Defense, a leading national
nonprofit organization based in New York, represents more than
300,000 members. Since 1967 we have linked science, economics, and
law to create innovative, equitable, and cost-effective solutions to
the most urgent environmental problems. | 
