State Ag Director to testify to Congress about ESA impact

Washington Ag Today May 2, 2011 The U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources and the House Committee on Agriculture are holding a joint oversight hearing tomorrow on the impact federal agency management of the Endangered Species Act is having on farmers, foresters and water users. The chairman of the Natural Resources Committee is Washington Congressman Doc Hastings and two of the witnesses the joint hearing will hear from are from Washington state; state ag director Dan Newhouse and West Mathison, President Stemlit Growers and Board President of the Washington State Horticultural Association.

The Washington Legislature will enter the second week of the special session tomorrow. Still unresolved is a new budget for the next biennium. The Senate was a work last week and passed some bills the House wasn’t. It is a 30-day special session and farmer and state Republican Senator Mark Shoesler was asked if lawmakers will complete their work in that time.

Schoesler: “I believe you have to be optimistic and work hard towards that goal. It is very difficult though when the other chamber, led by Speaker Chopp, refuses to do anything.”

?U.S. Fifth District Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers has rebuked the Environmental Protection Agency for issuing a guidance document that will expand the agency’s jurisdiction over waters under the Clean Water Act. McMorris Rodgers had previously joined 169 other House members from both parties who wrote the EPA urging it not to issue the guidelines, which critics says will negatively impact farmers.

I’m Bob Hoff and that’s Washington Ag Today on Northwest Aginfo Net.