News & Notes May 2001

EPA Administrator Praises Conservation Districts

Christine Todd Whitman, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator, presented a keynote address before 300 state conservation leaders, stressing that the federal government should work more closely with farmers, ranchers and private land owners to the help solve national soil and water resource problems.

Whitman was the Keynote Speaker at the National Association of Conservation Districts’ Spring Legislative Conference, held in Washington, D.C. In her address, she praised the efforts of the conservation districts to protect soil and water resources and maintain agricultural production through the past 60 years. “America’s conservation districts have a long, proud history of environmental awareness and activism,” she said. “You were environmentalists before the word was invented. You don’t always get headlines, but you sure do get results.”

Whitman added that the EPA has a history of thinking globally, but that she believes EPA can do better to help at the local level. “The time is ripe for partnership-building,” Whitman said. “I am convinced that we have reached a point where we can move beyond the command and control model that has long defined Washington’s relationship with the rest of the country on environmental policy.”

One of the highlights of her speech was the announcement of a 75-day extension of the public comment period for the proposed regulations for Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations. The EPA currently requires an operating permit for any feedlot with more than 1,000 animal units. The new proposed legislation would lower that limit. Nationally, many conservation district leaders are opposed to the change, claiming that it would provide little or no environmental benefit.

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