NAWG adopts resolution on ESA consultation
Farm and Ranch January 27, 2011 The National Association of Wheat Growers Board adopted a resolution on the Endangered Species Act consultation process at its winter meeting in Washington D.C. last week. Eric Hasselstrom of Idaho, who chairs NAWG’s Environmental and Renewable Resources Committee, says the resolution came from his panel. He says the committee heard from the past president of the Washington Association of Wheat Growers. Hasselstrom: “We also had a review from Brett Blankenship on NOAA Fisheries and EPA on the Endangered Species Act and salmon in the Pacific Northwest and how that is being handled. We passed a resolution out of our committee. NAWG supports an ESA consultation process that is based on best available science using empirical sampling that is transparent, quantifiable and assesses the economic impact to agricultural production.” Growers see the consultation process as broken. Successful legal challenges to the Environmental Protection Agency’s failure to consult on threatened and endangered species could result in spray buffers of from 50 to one-thousand feet in areas considered salmon habit. Last week a major lawsuit was filed challenging hundred of pesticides and their impact on hundreds of species nationwide. I’m Bob Hoff and that’s the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on Northwest Aginfo Net. ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
