Watchdog Archives
Agricultural Impact Statements
In a move to stifle the process of passing new environmental regulations that impact agriculture, New York's Sen. Kuhl has introduced S1973, a bill designed to create a review of existing and proposed rules and regulations affecting agriculture. The authors of the act allege that "the purpose of this act is to improve our agricultural economy by challenging existing regulations which work against viable farm operations, and prohibiting any further regulations which may harm agriculture." In reality the proposed legislation adds an additional level of bureaucracy (and expense) which will serve not only to further endanger the environment, but will also hinder the agricultural sector. The Commissioner of Agriculture would be given the sole duty of determining which regulations need to be analyzed. The NY agencies that would have their regulations scrutinized under this legislation include the Departments of Environmental Conservation, Health, Labor, and Transportation. This act goes on to suggest that all other state agencies may be subject to the same level of inspection. Sen. Kuhl, former NY state chairman for the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), seems to be taking clues from one of his former organization's legislative models, the Economic Impact Statement Act, which would require an environmental cost/benefit analysis to be conducted for any regulation proposed to protect the environment. With this eerily similar act, Sen. Kuhl is obviously trying to roll back the regulations that protect our environment and our farms, while pretending to be "farm friendly." In reality, the only group this legislation is "friendly" towards is corporate agricultural interests.
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