1/27/05

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1. Bush Kicks off Second Term with Gift to Factory Farm
2. EWG Releases Water Subsidy Abuse Program
3. Ag Secretary Johans Lays Out Coming Ag Agenda
4. GMO Europe Takes It Further

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BUSH KICKS OFF SECOND TERM WITH GIFT TO FACTORY FARMS

Just one day after President Bush's inauguration to a second term, the Environmental Protection agency announced that CAFO's can be let off the hook for Clean Air Act violations over the next two years, as well as any past violations, in exchange for participating in a two-year data-collection program that would monitor air emissions from their facilities. Administration officials say that they need this information in order to "make informed regulatory and policy determinations" because it is not known exactly how much hydrogen sulfide, ammonia and other pollutants are actually emitted from factory farms. While environmental groups agree that data is needed, "EPA does not need to suspend its enforcement authority while the monitoring takes place," says the Environmental Integrity Project's Michele Merkel, a former attorney with the EPA's enforcement division. Environmentalists also note that the fees to enter the voluntary monitoring program are a fraction of the $27,000 per day that EPA is authorized to fine polluters. 

ENVIRONMENTAL WORKING GROUP RELEASES WATER SUBSIDY ABUSE REPORT

The Environmental Working Group released last month, a new report detailing the abuse of federal water subsidies in California. 

The report shows clearly that the biggest largest farms in that area harvest the lion's share of federal water subsidies. For instance, the report shows how in 2002, the largest 10 percent of the farms received 67 percent of the water, for an average subsidy worth up to $349,000. 

Twenty-seven large farms each received subsidies worth $1 million or more at market rates, compared to a median subsidy for all recipients of $7,076. The report also suggests that the Bush administration is working deceptively to further these subsidies. The report quotes Congressman George Miller as saying the administration is "secretively negotiating long-term water contracts worth billions of dollars that would provide these same handouts to these same special interests for decades to come."

AGRICULTURE SECRETARY JOHANNS LAYS OUT COMING AG AGENDA

Former Nebraska governor Mike Johanns' was confirmed as the new Secretary of Agriculture last Friday by a voice vote in the Senate. One of the biggest issues Johanns will face in the coming year is the impact of growing budget deficits on Farm Bill programs. 

Supporters of conservation programs found little reassurance in the Secretary's responses to questions about how funding constraints might impact various programs. He described subsidy programs as an "investment" that allows Americans "to be consumers of some of the, really, the best products in the world, the safest products in the world." On the other hand, while expressing the Administration's support for conservation programs, he cautioned, "We have to do it in a way that meets the budget expectations that we have." 

In addition, Secretary Johanns reiterated the Bush Administration's position that country-of-origin labeling should be voluntary rather than mandatory. Finally, stated that his "top priority" was the effort to reopen beef exports to Japan, which has refused U.S. beef since the discovery of a BSE-infected cow in late 2003. Meanwhile, outgoing Agriculture Secretary Ann Venneman will be taking over as the head of the United Nations Childrens' Fund (UNICEF). 

GMO EUROPE TAKES IT FURTHER

While citizen in the U.S. forge alliances to ban the unchecked proliferation of GMO's in their region, GMO Free Europe has taken opposition to genetically modified foods to a new level. In a recently published web site, the group states that the resistance to GM food in Europe is "greater than ever" and that there are more that 3500 areas that have declared themselves GMO free. At their website you can view a map of Europe illustrating the various GMO free zones listed by regions and "sub-regions" or areas. By clicking on the countries on the map at this site you can find out more about existing GM-free zones in Europe as well as ongoing initiatives to establish new GE-free zones in European countries. 

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Scotty Johnson and Aimee Delach
National Rural Community Outreach Campaign
sjohnson@defenders.org