A24-La master Farming, Saturday, December S, 1898
(Continued from Pago A 1)
At the end of the public meeting
period, a summary of comments is
to be created and made available
through both agencies.
Respective staff and leadership
of the agencies are to review the
comments and look at changes for
a final Unified Strategy to be
issued by the end of 1999, accord
ing to officials at the meeting.
The Joint Unified Strategy for
AFOs, in brief, is a plan for how
the USDA is to work with the EPA
to use interpretations of authorities
granted under the federal Clean
Water Act and the National Pollut
ant Discharge Elimination System
(NPDES) to detect, regulate and
enforce mandatory comprehensive
Bob Mikesell, with Penn State University’s College of Agricultural Sciences, testi
fies before a listening panel of USDA, ERA and federal legislator representatives,
about the National Pork Producers Association’s National Pork Dialogue program
and how it proactively has developed operational guidelines for industry producers,
in an effort to prevent overbearing government regulation of the industry.
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nutrient management planning of
livestock operations.
The {dan targets not only high
denis ty operations sited on small
acreage, but also provides for
potential mandatory planning for
any livestock operation, given the
water quality conditions of the
watershed in which the farm sits,
and the nature and characteristics
of the existing operations.
Copies of the proposal ate avail
able through both agencies, as well
as through their respective Internet
homepages.
The meeting was one of 11 held
nationally, and Janet Oertly, the
state conservationist (Pennsylva
nia's leader) of the USDA Natural
Resources Conservation Service,
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said she was happy for Pennsylva
nia to serve as a site fra* one of the
national meetings.
“We were pleased to be able to
host an AFO listening session in
Harrisburg," Oertly said. “It’s crit
ical to get input from the public on
new policies.**
Oertly repeated a statement
made earlier about the draft
proposal that it does not create
any new regulations although
others are not quite sure that is
accurate since the Unified Strategy
calls for rewriting existing regula
tions to conform to the program
that fa to he in place to control farm
nutrient management operations.
While some would argue that
rewriting or “revising" as the
document states regulations is
lawmaking in essence, others con
sider that setting agency policy and
regulations are seen as a means for
implementing laws, not creating
them.
“I do want to reiterate that this
strategy does not create any new
laws or regulations. It coordinates
our work and that of EPA,” she
said.
“NRCS is a strong supporter of
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agriculture and wc will continue to
work with landowners on a volun
tary basis to help them care for the
land,” Ocrtly said.
“We also want to insure some
economic stability fra their way of
life. We recognize the stewardship
ethic of the majority of the farm
community. Farmers want to do
what’s best fra the land.
“It’s our job to help them with
the technology to do that. That’s
also why we fcpl it’s important to
maintain the confidentiality of our
files and support their efforts to do
the right thing,” she said.
(Turn to Pag* A 25)
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