Dairy Wants Filming Stopped & Endangered Species Act in Action plus Broadband Support

Dairy Wants Filming Stopped & Endangered Species Act in Action plus Broadband Support. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report.

The Idaho dairy industry is seeking help in trying to stop groups who covertly film their operations. The $2.5 billion dollar industry has the support of Senator Jim Patrick who has introduced legislation that would put those people behind bars for a year and have to pay a $5,000 fine. The groups say they are trying to expose operations who mistreat animals but the producers claim they are just trying to sabotage their operations.

A very small but impotent fish has been taken off the endangered species list. The Oregon Chub numbers were down to about 1,000 before it was listen in 1993. Those numbers have rebounded significantly in the last few years thanks to preservation work done. Meanwhile the Endangered Species Act Congressional Act Working Group co-chaired by Washington Congressman Doc Hastings has released their final provisions for reforming the ESA. Hastings says there is work to be done.

HASTINGS: The idea of the Endangered Species Act was to recover species. If some species is taken off the list, that's good. But if you look at overall at the Endangered Species Act and the number of species that have been recovered, that percentage is something like 2% of the listings. That's not a vey good track record.

Now USDA is investing in broadband support. Susan Carter has more.

(USDA Report)

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