75-16-A3
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Permits to Plow
TranscriptIs plowed ground going to be the next thing to disappear in the name of ecology? If so, we're all going to get mighty hungry. I'll be right back. Having spent some of my boyhood and later on my college years in small towns in which it could be said you were never more than a few blocks from plowed ground, I'm aware of how important that plowed earth is to our welfare, indeed our very existence. Would you believe that it's possible our three million farmers as well as countless other landowners may soon discover they can't plow or cultivate their land or even have a garden patch without getting a federal permit, and I mean a federal permit every time you plow the same piece of land. Strange things happen as legislation winds its way through the marble halls of government. Sometimes accidental changes in wording make an ordinary bill become a monstrous mutation. Sometimes the accidents are suspect of being accidental on purpose. Take a minor word change from "shall" to "may" and suddenly a legislator finds his law to make a government agency perform in a sudden way has become a permissive measure in which the agency can do or not do what the law says. Senator Muskie authored the Federal Water Pollution Control Act. It was passed over President Nixon's veto. I doubt the lawmakers who, like all of us, want clean water in our lakes and rivers were aware of a slight change in wording until a court decision was handed down explaining what the bill really calls for. Section 404 directs the Corps of Engineers to issue permits for the discharge of dredged or filled material in navigable waters. Underline that word "navigable." We all know it defines waters that are sizeable enough to be used for interstate travel by barge, boat and so forth. In the legislative process a bill passed out of the Senate often undergoes changes when it gets to the House, then a conference committee of Senators and Congressmen iron out the differences in the two versions. In the case of Senator Muskie's bill, the word "navigable" was dropped. The effect of that deletion is staggering. A federal court has ruled that the law now applies to all waters, even the tiniest trickle and therefore the federal government has a greatly expanded authority over land use. Now there have been increasing attempts in Washington to pass land planning bills that would give the federal government control over land use. The Department of Agriculture, in analyzing the law, says dredged material means any material in excess of a cubic yard. Now plowing one acre of ground to a depth of only one half inch moves some 50 cubic yards of soil, so therefore plowing or cultivating is covered by Senator Muskie's clean water bill. The opportunity for mischief is enormous. The ecology lobby and the powerful Evironmental Protection Agency are pressing for adoption of strict regulations which, even though they deny it as their intention, would still mean a farmer would have to get a permit every time he plowed. Environmentalists have threatened that if they don't get the strict regulation they'll go to court. It takes about four months to process a permit. The Corps of Engineers has testified to the Senate Public Works Committee that the expansion of their duties will require an additional 5000 federal agents in the field, investigating farmers and even homeowners for possible violations. The bill to the taxpayers is estimated at another hundred million dollars. All of this for the dropping of one nine-letter word. Accident? If so, why did the conferees in resubmitting the bill to both houses continue to use the term "navigable waters." Maybe it's only coincidence but those of a liberal bent in Congress have been trying since 1970 to enact land use legislation. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening. |
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