Reining in EPA & Bighorn Sheep Award
Reining in EPA & Bighorn Sheep Award plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.
Idaho’s bighorn sheep tag lottery has netted the Department of Fish and Game Wildlife Health Laboratory $54-thousand dollars for bighorn sheep disease research. A southern California accountant has won the right to shoot a bighorn sheep in Idaho this fall. One bighorn tag is awarded annually through a raffle, with another offered at auction. The lottery has raised more than $750,000 since 1992.
Ag-supported measures to rein in the EPA are embedded in a major spending bill the U.S. House is expected to pass by next week. The Interior appropriations bill includes at least three key GOP provisions to limit EPA’s power to regulation greenhouse gases, pesticides and U.S. waters. American Farm Bureau Federation Regulatory Specialist Paul Schlegel says one would stop a pending EPA bid to allow the agency to regulate even the smallest of water bodies.
SCHLEGEL: The environmental activists for several years and several Congress’ tried to amend the Clean Water Act. They never got enough support to do it so now EPA in a regulatory fashion is actually issuing something which would in fact broaden their jurisdiction and their regulatory authority.
Now with today’s Food Forethought, here’s Lacy Gray.
This time of year brings with it the familiar sights and smells of America’s state and county fairs: corn dogs, chili cheese fries, cotton candy, carnival rides, livestock, and the fresh fertilizer that accompanies them. But attendance at all fairs has been slowly dwindling over the last couple of decades, which raises the question about whether this American tradition can survive. Due to the drastic budget cuts that are being passed in nearly all fifty states most fair representatives say their fairs more than likely won’t survive; which is really pretty sad when you think about it. State and county fairs represent more than just a “good time” for two weeks in the summer. Fairs provide a community service far beyond just entertainment; numerous non-profit organizations benefit through fund raising at their local fairs, young people learn life lessons of responsibility, leadership, and teamwork, people going to fairs can learn about agriculture and meet local farmers, not to mention that most fair proceeds are generated back into local communities. Some traditions are certainly worth saving, state and county fairs are definitely one of them.
Thanks Lacy. That’s today’s Northwest Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.
