Wyoming farmer in EPA’s crosshairs

Wyoming farmer Andy Johnson is the unlikely target of an EPA vendetta -- facing tens of millions of dollars in fines for daring to build a stock pond -- which the Clean Water Act specifically bars the agency from regulating -- on his property after obtaining all the required state permits. Meanwhile, the agency is facing no penalties at all for its massive spill of metals-laden water into the Animas River in New Mexico.

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|2015-09-11T12:47:51-04:00September 9th, 2015|4 Comments

The agency that contaminated the Animas River is about to start regulating water that may be in your backyard

Unless a federal judge issues a preliminary injunction, the definition of the “Waters of the U.S.” will change on August 28—giving the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the authority to regulate the water in your backyard (even the water that might be in your backyard due to a heavy rain). Even, according to West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey: “any area where agencies believe water may flow once every 100 years.” Thirty-one states, in four districts, have filed motions with the federal courts to block the EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) from beginning to enforce the new “Waters [...]

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|2015-08-17T14:58:13-04:00August 17th, 2015|9 Comments

Ethanol and biodiesel: Guilty as charged

Biodiesel and ethanol are killers -- and thieves of fuel efficiency, engine life, and pocketbooks. They exist in our society primarily thanks to corruptible politicians who took advantage of an "oil crisis" to entrench themselves into the American automobile. They typically reduce gas mileage, increase engine wear, and create a multitude of other problems for consumers -- including higher expenses for transportation.

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|2015-07-18T01:50:22-04:00July 18th, 2015|4 Comments

Ducks Unlimited, Virginia winery face off in court over land-use restrictions

Cronyism once again rears its ugly head, as Big Conservation seeks to infringe upon the rights of American property owners to use their land lawfully for profit and for the benefit of customers who make their businesses grow. This time. it is a small Virginia winery, but next time it may be you wanting to add a barbecue pit or even a hot tub. Hopefully, the courts will side with the property owners this time -- but we must be eternally vigilant against these interlopers who seek godlike status in our society.

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|2015-06-26T16:11:47-04:00June 26th, 2015|2 Comments

Greens, Feds team up to link land-use restrictions to climate change

The behemoth that is the federal bureaucracy is wholly unaccountable to the people whom they are now pushing around via massive new regulations -- Obama style -- that take away private property rights without due process or even a hearing. Washington is out of control and must be reined in,

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|2015-06-23T12:01:08-04:00June 23rd, 2015|Comments Off on Greens, Feds team up to link land-use restrictions to climate change

Floodplain executive order: Latest Obama power grab

Executive Order 13690 is a massive overreach of illegal federal authority over what ought to be locally determined floodplain management standards.

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|2015-04-08T00:06:49-04:00April 7th, 2015|42 Comments

Colorado canyon latest Obama “monument” land grab

Once again, a President has designated land for national monuments without the advice and consent of Congress -- an action unchecked during the Bush years after President Clinton's highly controversial designation of the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument in Utah. These land grabs may sound noble, but whenever federal officials replace state and local land managers, they tend to create problems for continuing use of the land and even surrounding areas. This is particularly true of Brown's Canyon in Colorado, says the Colorado Cattlemen's Association.

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|2015-03-02T11:42:26-05:00February 24th, 2015|78 Comments

California raisin farmers get another day in court

Raisin growers Marvin and Laura Horne have challenged a 66-year-old USDA regulation that allows the government to seize up to half a grower's raisin crop for forced resale overseas at discounted prices. The stated purpose is to keep the domestic price for raisins artificially high, but the Hornes claim that the seizure of their crop amounts to an unconstitutional taking without adequate compensation - and now the case is headed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

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|2015-02-23T11:51:00-05:00February 23rd, 2015|Comments Off on California raisin farmers get another day in court

I come to bury renewable fuel standards

The federal ethanol mandate mut be rescinded, say CFACT Senior Policy Advisor Paul Driessen. Nearly 40% of the U.S. corn crop is devoted to ethanol, and this requires enormous amounts of irrigation water, fertilizers, pesticides, and gasoline or diesel fuel to grow, harvest, and ship the corn -- and then to ship the ethanol. While corn growers are protected by the mandate, they are making money -- but at the expense of chicken, turkey, egg, and hog farmers who are paying an extra $100 billion a year in feed costs. Moreover, energy from oil and gas drilling is much less harmful to the environment -- especially given the high usage of water, the unbearable flow of life-killing nutrients into the Gulf of Mexico, and of course the negative impacts on gasoline and diesel engines from the added ethanol (and the lower miles per gallon it delivers). It is time, says Driessen, to bury the Renewable Fuel Standard and the ethanol subsidies.

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|2015-02-07T11:51:46-05:00February 7th, 2015|4 Comments

New Maryland governor to scuttle predecessor’s anti-farm regs

Farmers on Maryland’s Eastern Shore are breathing a sigh of relief on news that newly sworn-in Gov. Larry Hogan (R) plans to scrap regulations targeting agricultural runoff into the Chesapeake Bay. Hogan’s announcement came as outgoing Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) was scrambling to get the regulations finalized before leaving office Jan. 21. “The first fight [when I take office] will be against these politically motivated midnight-hour phosphorus management tool regulations that the outgoing administration is trying to force upon you in these closing days,” Hogan said in a speech before the Maryland Farm Bureau (Washington Times, Dec. 9) “We won’t allow [...]

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|2015-01-28T20:48:07-05:00January 28th, 2015|Comments Off on New Maryland governor to scuttle predecessor’s anti-farm regs

Virginia land trust’s transgressions draw legal, legislative scrutiny

The once-respected Piedmont Environmental Council has been shamed by the Virginia Outdoors Foundation and Virginia Assistant Attorney General Richard Mahevich for misdeeds surrounding its sale of Liberty Farm to organic farmer Martha Boneta. The PEC had inserted language into an easement agreement with Ms. Boneta and the VOF that benefitted PEC member Phil Thomas, who then took various actions against Ms. Boneta in a blatant attempt to force her to abandon the property she had turned from a dump into a profitable operation. Now the Virginia legislature is considering legislation to curb the power of land trusts.

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|2015-01-13T11:54:55-05:00January 13th, 2015|13 Comments

Spending bill brings relief to rural America

While the so-called "Cromnibus" spending bill has its detractors on both sides of the political aisle, the devil is always in the details. And this bill, for the first time in years, did contain some items that will lead to cheering in rural and western America (and by right-minded people all over). Among them: the EPA is barred from cutting dairy CO2 emissions and from regulating farm ponds under navigable water legislation, and neither the greater sage grouse or its smaller cousin, the Gunnison sage grouse, can be officially listed as endangered until more studies are undertaken.

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|2014-12-22T14:11:33-05:00December 22nd, 2014|1 Comment

Obama’s regional climate hubs take aim at farmers, ranchers, forest landowners

Do not for a moment believe that the U.S. Department of Agriculture is setting up these "Climate Hubs" to assist farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners, says CFAC Advisor Bonner Cohen. The goal is to force these hard-working Americans into compliance with federal mandates on climate change -- which will surely include new restrictions on their use of water, livestock feed, fertilizers, livestock management techniques, and who knows what all else that violate every principle of real land management ever established through the test of time. If they succeed in this, we should fear for our food supply.

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|2014-11-03T12:38:16-05:00November 3rd, 2014|8 Comments

Beekeeepers blaming pesticides for bee losses could face bigger losses in court

Prodded by attorneys, beekeepers in Canada's Ontario Province have filed a lawsuit against pesticide manufacturers, claiming that neonicotinoids are killing their hives. But beekeepers in western Canadian provinces are seeking to opt out of the lawsuit, but the Siskinds law firm is not cooperating with their requests. Should the beekeepers lose in court, they will be obligated to pay court costs and perhaps damages. Perhaps they will have to file their own lawsuit against the plaintiffs.

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|2014-10-28T13:53:16-04:00October 28th, 2014|Comments Off on Beekeeepers blaming pesticides for bee losses could face bigger losses in court

2007: a great year for growing bad legislation like the ethanol mandate

Back in 2007, states passed renewable portfolio standards at the same time the George W. Bush Administration was patting itself on the back for enacting the renewable fuels standard -- aka the ethanol mandate. Seven years later, most people see the flaws in this energy strategy, but the EPA continues unabated in its quest to push more ethanol into America's automobiles.

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|2014-09-27T19:49:12-04:00September 27th, 2014|2 Comments
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