Amendment to the farm bill

Senator Johanns e-Update June 12, 2012 Today, I introduced an amendment to the farm bill that would ban the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from using aerial surveillance to inspect or to record images of agricultural operations but would still allow the use of traditional on-site inspections. The EPA’s recent history of imposing overreaching regulations on our farmers and ranchers has rightfully made many in the agriculture community skeptical of the agency’s actions. I share these concerns, which is why I along with my Nebraska delegation colleagues sent two letters to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson requesting information about the agency’s use of aerial surveillance both in Nebraska and nationwide. This is a trust issue, and farmers and ranchers don’t trust EPA doing low-altitude surveillance flights over their operations. EPA’s surveillance program only adds to the deficit of trust this closed-door agency has earned of late. It’s past time for Congress to put an end to EPA's use of aerial surveillance.