12
—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 24,1979
RCWP goes to ASCS
FAIRFAX, Va. - After a
long debate, the U.S. Senate
has given the administration
of the Rural Clean Water
Program to the Agricultural
Stabilization and Con
servation Service. This was
one of the issues that held up
the 1960 budget for the USD A
last month.
What has been in debate?
The original wording of the
bill setting up the RCWP
called for the program to be
administered by the
Secretary of Agriculture and
the Administrator of the Sod
Conservation Service.
Conservation districts were
to have the coordination
responsibilities at the local
level.
What the conferees ac
cepted on October 24th was
for the $5O million con
servation program to be
carried out by the ASCS.
This bill was worded by
Jamie Whitten (D-Miss.)
who serves as Chairman of
the House Appropriations
Committee.
The House adopted this
bill, along with the $10.5
billion USDA budget with a
vote of 304 to 25.
According to Robert Koch,
president of the National
Limestone Institute, this
shows the support of U.S.
Congressmen and Senators
for agriculture and con
servation, and the
agricultural conservation
program.
He stated, “In recent
years, under both
Democratic and Republican
Administrations, the Budget
Balancers (most of whom
have never believed in the
ACP) and those who have
wanted to turn the entire
ACP over the Sod Con
servation Service have
formed an unholy alliance to
attack the idea of so-called
annual practices versus
long-term or enduring or
permanent practices.”
“Nothing is permanent,
and all conservation prac
tices contribute to
production”, added Koch.
“ACP was the first EPA
type program the govern
ment ever backed, and it
certainly did more for Rural
Clean Water on millions of
farms than any program yet
devised.”
It was specified in the bill
that this would be an ex
perimental rural clean
water program. The budget
that was accepted was
actually $25 million less than
what was proposed by the
Senate for the RCWP
originally.
The program is designed
to provide funds in an effort
to have greater participation
in the conservation program
where it is needed most.
Even though there has been
an ACP program for years,
RCWP is set up to provide
conservation programs in
those areas that have not
made use of the ACP.
The practices that would
be included in the program
would be selected by local
county committees, to be
reviewed and approved by
state committees and the
Secretary of Agriculture.
Conservation districts, State
soil and water conservation
agencies, or State water
quality agencies would be
consulted by the committees
for advice and assistance
One problem that Clinton
Johnson, Assistant State
Conservationist for SCS in
Pennsylvania, pointed out
was the current $3500 annual
limitation for payment to
individual farmers under the
ASCS gu'delmes. If the
RCWP would have been
handled by conservation
districts and SCS, this
maximum cost-share would
have been raised to $50,000
annually.
Johnson also stressed that
the new legislation agreed to
consider the previous ap
plications received before
these recent changes. He
said that there had been 60
submitted nationwide, with
two from Pennsylvania;
Tulpehocken Creek
watershed, Berks-Lebanon
Counties; and, Conestoga
Creek watershed, Lancaster
County.
Richard Pennay, head of
ASCS in Pennsylvania, told
LANCASTER FARMING
that to date he had not
received any policy on
RCWP from Washington
D.C. He mentioned that he
had been in the nation’s
capitol recently to help m
developing a handbook for
the program, but other than
that he had no information
on the experimental
program.
Grangers support orderly
LANCASTER - A
reasonable examination of
the energy outlook in
America clearly indicates
that nuclear power is essen
tial to fill the electrical
energy gap in the
foreseeable future, said
Grange delegates meetmg
here at the 113th Annual Ses
sion of the National Grange.
The Grange supports
orderly development of
nuclear power generators
provided such development
meets all reasonable
safeguards. The Grange
urges the federal govern
ment to set the policy, and
both the Administration and
Congress are asked to pro
vide leadership and support
for a safe and positive
nuclear program.
Positive action is needed
to simplify and shorten
nuclear licensing pro
cedures, provide for govern
ment processing and storage
of nuclear fuel and the
disposal of nuclear waste;
also to improve safety and
design construction and
operation of nuclear power
facilities, they said.
The Grange also supports
a reasonable program for
development and commer
cialization of the breeder
reactor.
To relieve America’s great
dependence on foreign
sources of oil, the Grange
Handles energy issues
development of
nuclear facilties
calls for legislative and
regulatory changes to pro
vide necessary incentives
for domestic producers of
crude oil and natural gas to
increase their production
The Grange suggests a
policy that would include the
investment of corporate pro
fits that result from in
creases in world oil prices in
to activities which would in
crease exploration, drilling,
producing and recovery of
additional domestic energy
resources. The Grange also
supports the phase-out of
price controls on crude oil.
The Grange recommends
the discontinuance of the
federal allocation system for
gasoline and diesel fuel but
would retain Presidential
authority to provide high
priority users such as
agriculture, transporters of
agricultural products, home
heating and emergency
vehicles with the necessary
fuel supplies during an
emergency.
The Grange supports the
exploration and production
of off-shore oil and gas in
vestment in refineries by
establishing a consistent
policy in future pncmg of
domestic sources of energy.
They also recomipend open
ing public lands for oil and
gas exploration and call for a
way to streamline the ap
plication for and construe-
turn of energy facilities in
order to cut red tape and
overcome regulatory con
straints
The Grange supports
measures designed to pro
vide economic assistance to
low-income persons and
those on small, fixed in
comes to assist m paying for
the high cost of energy.
In the search for practical
alternatives to the energy
puzzle, the Grange en
courages the federal govern
ment to provide funds for
technology and incentives
for rapid increase in the pro
duction and distribution of
biomass, alcohol, and other
synthetic fuels from waste
and agricultural products.
Grange delegates emphasiz
ed that synthetic fuel pro
duced should be of a type
that can be used in
automobiles and machinery
now in existence.
The National Grange
urges the federal govern
ment to expedite the is
suance of permits for the
construction of the Northern
Tier Pipeline to distribute
Alaska crude oil from Port
Angeles, Washington, to
Clear Brook, Minnesota,
thereby shortening the route
for crude oil by 5000 miles.