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EPA officials, Nebraska cattlemen disagree on overflights
Representatives of Region 7 of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) met with central Nebraska cattle feeders in Lexington, Nebraska Monday night to discuss the agency’s controversial aerial surveillance program.
EPA’s Region 7 began using overflights in the Midwest in 2010 to check livestock farms for violations of the federal Clean Water Act. The agency leases small planes that fly EPA staffers over cattle operations. They take photographs as they seek evidence of illegal animal waste discharges into rivers and streams.
This is the first year that central Nebraska producers have been included in the aerial surveillance program. The EPA has focused on northwest Iowa and northeast Nebraska over the first two years of the program.
Many of the 125 people in attendance in attendance questioned the need for the program, given that the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality (NDEQ) is already authorized by the EPA to implement the Clean Water Act in the state. We discussed that issue with Kristen Hassebrook, director of natural resources and environmental affairs with the Nebraska Cattlemen organization.
AUDIO: Kristen Hassebrook (4:54 MP3)
EPA officials say they work closely and have a good relationship with Nebraska environmental officials, although they admit that NDEQ has expressed concerns with their flyover program. No representatives of NDEQ were in attendance at the meeting in Lexington.
Brownfield discussed criticisms of the program with Josh Svaty, senior adviser in the EPA’s Region 7 office.
Cattle feeder Jeff Rudolph of Gothenburg, Nebraska, who is vice-president of Nebraska Cattlemen, was among those questioning the need for federal involvement in environmental inspections. He says NDEQ has done a good job of working with cattlemen over the years and EPA’s involvement only creates confusion.
AUDIO: Jeff Rudolph (2:41 MP3)
Craig Uden, a cattle feeder from Cozad, Nebraska, also questions the need for the aerial surveillance program.
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