Eye in the sky: EPA defends feedlot flyoversIn response to criticism last week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency claims it has legal authority and precedent for using aerial photography to monitor compliance with the Clean Water Act.
The issue came to light when U.S. Senator Mike Johanns (R-Neb.) announced he, along with all of Nebraska’s Congressional delegation, had sent a letter to EPA administrator Lisa Jackson questioning the agency’s motivation and legal authority for using aerial surveillance of Nebraska livestock operations.
Drovers/CattleNetwork posted an article titled
“Johanns questions EPA on feedlot flyovers,” on Thursday outlining the issue, based in part on an
AgriTalk Radio interview with Johanns. AgriTalk is a partner with Drovers/CattleNetwork, with both organizations under the ownership of Vance Publishing Corporation.
Following the interview, EPA’s Region 7 office, which covers Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska, provided the following response. “For nearly a decade, EPA has used aerial over-flights to verify compliance with environmental laws in impaired watersheds. Aerial over-flights are a cost-effective tool that helps the Agency and our state partners minimize costs and reduce the number of on-site inspections across the country as the Agency focuses on areas of the greatest concern. For animal feeding operations, EPA uses over-flights, state records and other publicly available sources of information to identify discharges of pollution. In no case has EPA taken an enforcement action solely on the basis of these over-flights. EPA and other state and federal agencies also use aircraft for responding to emergencies such as chemical releases or to assess environmental disasters.”
...*
Continued
here.Comments (1)
r moreland
kentucky | June, 04, 2012 at 02:03 PM
folks it is just a matter of time before the fed govt begins using drones to monitor all farm activity. i am waitng on the tax to be paid to the govt for raising cattle. a simple drone fly over to get a head count of cows or anything else they want to tax you for. until the liberals are gone it is only going to get worse...
*
Pull
