Keeping The Job and Weather Helping Smoke

Keeping The Job and Weather Helping Smoke plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

There are times in all our lives we thought our jobs were in jeopardy but think about this. If Mitt Romney wins, a whole lot of people will be out of their jobs and I’m not making a political statement. Just that he will install his own cabinet members like Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack. But if Obama wins reelection, will Vilsack stay on?

VILSACK: That’s a complicated question and it’s complicated because my wife is running for Congress and there’s an issue there. But let me say this. I don’t want to presuppose or prejudge what the American public is going to do. They get to choose first. Nor do I want to presuppose what the President would do if he is successful and I believe he will be. I’ll just simply say I’ve got the greatest job in America and I have told the President not once but twice that I have the greatest job in America so if you can feel you can tell the President of the United States you’ve got a better job than he has, you must really like your job!

The cooler and damper weather spreading across the northwest has one big advantage and that is it is helping air quality, especially around fire areas. Air quality has slowly been improving across the region and the best part is it also helps firefighters get the upper hand on these blazes.

Now with today’s Food Forethought, here’s Lacy Gray.

A landmark case is slated to start today. The Waterkeeper Alliance is suing a family run chicken farm in Maryland for allegedly violating the federal Clean Water Act by storing a pile of poultry manure on their property. Funny thing is, that pile turned out to be legally purchased natural fertilizer for crops. It was improperly stored though, and the farm owners promptly complied with state regulations on containing and storing the fertilizer, and paid the related fine. Not content with this outcome, the Waterkeeper Alliance continued forward with the suit, claiming that the water pollution it found in a nearby ditch could only have came from this particular farm. An interesting side note, the Waterkeeper Alliance routinely goes on flyover “witch hunts” looking for environmental issues, often finding problems where there are none. The judge has warned the Waterkeepers with this suit that, if he rules in favor of the defendant, he very well might require the plaintiff to pay all legal fees. Finally, a step in the right direction. But, this lawsuit could either signal the beginning of the end for such frivolous lawsuits, or change the face of chicken farming nationally.

Thanks Lacy. That’s today’s Northwest Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.