What's Upstream-Update

I’m Bob Larson. Documents uncovered in a Freedom of Information Act request are likely to extend the amount of time needed, by the Environmental Protection Agency and “What’s Upstream” organizers, to answer questions about the anti-farming campaign and how hundreds of thousands in federal grant dollars were spent.

 

It appears, after their ballot initiative to restrict farming around waterways ran aground, What’s Upstream changed course when the EPA gave them permission to spend the federal funds on ads intended to sway lawmakers …

 

GERALD BARON-WUF-1 = 22 sec … “At least two more violations of law that have been found as a result of this latest release of documents, as well as making it even more clear that EPA staff really was very concerned about it even concerned to the point of saying “how deep is the FOIA request on this going to go?” But, their concerns, essentially, were overturned by Region 10’s administrator Dennis McLerran.”

 

Save Family Farming director Gerald Baron says they didn’t know about the depth of EPA involvement when it previously went to the Public Disclosure Commission in search of answers …

 

GERALD BARON-WUF-7 = 23 sec … “How is EPA really, they state publicly a collaborative approach with farmers, however they operate much, much differently from that. If you consider bullying to be collaboration, then I would agree, but that’s not the way that they’ve been operating and it’s really time the public understands exactly what EPA’s doing and the impact that it’s having on farmers in our state, and I suspect, beyond that.”

 

Baron says permission to spend the grant monies on the new advertising campaign aimed at legislators does not appear to have been given willingly.

 

Tune in to tomorrow’s Farm Bureau Report to hear more about the tactics laid out in these newly released documents.