Beware Of Regulators Gone Wild [Opinion]

Vice President Joe Biden famously said during the election campaign “You’d better gird your loins.” That was about foreign policy, but growers may soon be getting the feeling that a little girding is necessary.

President Barack Obama has stated one of his priorities will be the environment and climate change. Where that might hit agriculture the hardest could be within the new Administration’s EPA. The January ruling by the Sixth Circuit Court in the case National Cotton Council vs. EPA vacated a rule exempting ag pesticide sprays from the Clean Water Act.

In effect, the decision could require growers to get permits before each pesticide application. In April, EPA declined to rehear the case, but did ask for a two-year stay to prepare for the permitting process, which will no doubt be huge. EPA’s own estimates suggest the ruling could impact as many as 365,000 pesticide applicators that perform 5.6 million applications annually.

One industry representative mentioned that the problem with the ruling is nobody really knows who will be directly affected until it is litigated, meaning if you are a grower, you might believe it is best to get the permit in the meantime to avoid future penalities.

Cap And Trade

Another priority of the new Administration is the idea of cap and trade, which basically would impose a tax on “polluters” that exceed certain levels. The idea is the tax revenue could fund research into green energy projects and encourage polluters to pollute less.

That sounds great, but who would be hit by this plan? The President has admitted that these new regulations would necessarily make energy prices soar and even suggested that it could bankrupt the coal industry.

Cap and trade is a huge political hot potato, and some say it is too big for passage right away. But, the Administration has the EPA and a recent notice of proposed rulemaking whether it is appropriate to regulate greenhouse gasses as a “pollutant” under the Clean Air Act. That’s the source of the “cow tax” controversy a few months ago. This would require operations that produce 100 tons of a pollutant per year to get a permit to continue to operate.

USDA has stated that any operation with more than 25 dairy cows or 50 beef cattle would have to obtain the costly permits.

Litigious World

Now the Administration has suggested that small operators should not worry about cap and trade or the Clean Air Act rules, because they would be first focusing on cars and coal. But, what if you are a farmer that gets sued by “Joe Citizen” with the help of some well-funded environmental group? So what the Administration intends to do really doesn’t matter once the lawsuits start flying.