Posted on 07/03/2012 2:49:31 PM PDT by radioone
Midwest farmers were outraged to hear that the Obama EPA was spying on ranches in surveilance planes. Rep. Tom Latham sent a letter to the EPA demanding answers,
“No federal agency has the right to treat the American farmer like the Taliban.”
To the Obama EPA – Iowa farmers are the enemy.
The AP reported:
Midwest ranchers have never been enamored with environmental regulators, but they really began to complain after learning that federal inspectors were flying over their land to look for problems.
The Environmental Protection Agency flies over power plants and other facilities nationwide to identify potential air, water and land pollution. It began using aerial surveillance in the Midwest in 2010 to check farms for violations of federal clean water regulations.
Ranchers who object to the program said they’re not trying to hide anything. It’s the quiet approach the EPA took with the program designed to spot illegal disposal of animal waste that they find upsetting. Most were not even aware of the flyovers until regional EPA officials mentioned it at a meeting three months ago.
“For me, it just creeps into the ‘Big Brother is watching you’ area, to where the government just feels like it’s getting more and more intrusive,” said Buck Wehrbein, who manages a cattle feeding operation in Mead, Neb., about 30 miles west of Omaha.
EPA officials explained during a meeting with ranchers in West Point, Neb., that they lease small planes that fly EPA staffers over cattle operations. The staffers take photographs as they seek evidence of illegal animal waste running off into rivers and streams.
Ranchers complained to their members of Congress, who responded angrily and then grew even more annoyed by what they considered the EPA’s sluggish response to their inquiries for information about the flights. Nebraska Sen. Mike Johanns, a Republican, introduced an amendment to a multifaceted farm bill to stop the flights, but it fell four votes short of the 60 needed. Although most backers of the amendment were Republicans, 10 Democrats supported the proposal…
…The agency conducted three flyovers in Iowa in 2010, five in 2011, and one this year. In Nebraska, there were six flights last year and three this year.
Two more flights are planned this year in each state.
That’s what I was thinking. 150 - 250 mw ought to do it, for non military grade systems.
That’s what I was thinking. 150 - 250 mw ought to do it, for non military grade systems.
I can' imagine being a little kid now, that's exactly the kind of thing I would have done when I was a kid in the 1960s. Good thing there weren't lasers back then, except that back then, I could have shined a laser at a plane, and no one would have cared.
The Republicans will go the way of the Kadet Party (the Constitutional Democrats) in Russia in 1917.
Our Bolsheviks are already doing flyovers to identify the kulaks. Next step, collectivization of agriculture, comrades. It’s more FAIR!
Law enforcement officers cannot search a suspected criminal’s home without a search warrant. However, the Government apparently has no qualms about putting law-abiding citizens under surveillance with no permission required, not probable cause. This is very serious.
I think a strategic shift is necessary to get our country back. The GOP has for too long played defense and whined and complained about the encroachment of the Federal Government. This strategy has failed. It is time to finally play offense and seriously roll back the power of that government...let agencies like the EPA be afraid. People on our side of the aisle should run for office not promising to limit the EPA, but to totally dismantle it due to its obvious lack of objectivity, accountability, and abuse of power. The states have their own agencies. Having a federal agency is totally redundant. To have our taxpayer dollars fund such monstrosities is sickening.
Incorrect. We have all the “power” we need to do what is necessary, we simply lack the will.
Gold star for you. Most people don’t know the difference between a farm and a ranch, nor between farmers and cattlemen.
The communist have been planning this for more than 50 years and no one has really tried to stop them after they took down Joseph McCarthy. What is happening today is what the Dies Committee, House Unamerican Activities Committee, and Senator Joseph McCarthy were investigating. The communists are very cunning long term planners.
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