Answers Demanded From EPA's Funded Anti-Ag Campaign

Yesterday, U.S. House Ag Committee Chairman Michael Conaway and Washington's Congressman Dan Newhouse held a press conference about the EPA's latest mis-step. Their grant of more than a half-million dollars to the anti-ag What's UpStream campaign. In Congressman Newhouse's opening comments he said

Newhouse: "Despite previous EPA violations of federal laws pertaining to funding propaganda, advocacy and lobbying efforts, it is troubling that the EPA has allowed ax-payers funds to attack farmers and ranchers. Clearly the EPA did not take seriously the an EPA Inspector General's report in 2014 that the EPA Region 10 had insufficient protections in place to ensure grant awardees were not using funds for advocacy, propaganda or lobbying efforts. In fact what is most disturbing is that it appears that EPA approved some of the illegal activities of the awardee."

He shared what he has heard about how the campaign affected ag producers in Washington state where the grant was awarded.

Newhouse: "I think the biggest impact has to do with the producers themselves. Who have been working very hard and looking for ways to be good stewards of the environment. This feels like a low blow to them; to be public eviscerated like this and all painted with this broad brush of guilt. That is really hard to take."