Ag Policy Blog

EPA Chief Headed to Show-Me State

Chris Clayton
By  Chris Clayton , DTN Ag Policy Editor
Connect with Chris:
@ChrisClaytonDTN

EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy is taking a road trip to Missouri later this week to "meet with farmers, stakeholders and agribusiness leaders to discuss Waters of the US, a proposed rule that clarifies and protects our nations’ waters under the Clean Water Act."

McCarthy will hold a press call on Tuesday with a farmer she will visit. She will also give a speech on Thursday to the Kansas City Agribusiness Council.

Joining McCarthy on a call Tuesday will be Bill Heffernan, who EPA describes as a corn and soybean farmer. Heffernan will show McCarthy around on Wednesday at his farm in Rocheport, Mo., to highlight conservation practices.

If McCarthy's goal is to bring production agriculture into the loop or conversation about the waters of the U.S. rule, I am not sure Heffernan will do the trick. Heffernan is a retired rural sociologist in Missouri who has certainly played a significant role in concentrating on sustainability issues and the changing agricultural landscape in rural America. There are entire rural sociology papers on the internet dedicated to the work of the "populist pragmatist." He farms heritage livestock for companies such as Whole Foods.

In other words, Dr. Heffernan isn't your average farmer out there. He will likely do an excellent job telling McCarthy what she wants to hear and see what she wants to see. But that's not exactly going to advance the debate or ease the tensions out there among commercial farmers about the waters of the U.S. proposal. I hope that in this mix of "farmers, stakeholders and agribusiness leaders" that McCarthy intends to visit with in Missouri is broader group of people who can explain their concerns and converse with McCarthy about the potential challenges and risks posed by EPA's proposal.

If McCarthy doesn't take time to visit with members of those general farm and commodity groups that disagree with the agency then it will be a relatively unsuccessful trip. Remember, it's the "Show-Me State."

Chris Clayton can be reached at chris.clayton@dtn.com

Follow him on Twitter @ChrisClaytonDTN

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Unknown
7/8/2014 | 8:04 AM CDT
Clearly these new rules overreach 5th amendment rights along with overstepping congress. Why aren't they meeting with farmers in the "Praire Pothole Region", obviously this is a ploy to stop all drainage in that region with wetland compliance, and now the new EPA rules they will "condemn our cropland". We just celebrated Independence Day, where did the Independence go? Meeting with hobby farmers is a joke and shows how serious they are about listening to our needs. They said when they passed wetland compliance for crop insurance in the farm bill there where only 2 or 3 producers out of compliance in the nation and now where I live since passing there are all time record wetland violations with the signing of a pen but supposedly no rules have changed. Crazy!!! A bill built on lies!!! The EPA step will be the final step in closing drainage, making it impossible to get approvals by overloading you with a time consuming, costly permit process in which they can deny you if they feel like it. Look what's happening with the IRS, VA, EPA, NRCS the list goes on and on. These government should never have this much power or control no matter which party is in power. When they name Czars as heads of these government entities what does that tell you? The word Czar doesn't sound like, justice, liberty, freedom or due process to me, what does it sound like to you?
Bonnie Dukowitz
7/8/2014 | 5:29 AM CDT
A retired, sociologist, Not very logical to retire and go farming. I have nothing against doing the best that we can in the ag profession, but I often wonder how many of the enviro influencers could actually make a living producing food.