Ag Organizations Partner in Motion to Intervene in Mississippi River Basin Case

The American Farm Bureau Federation joined 14 state Farm Bureau organizations and 16 other national and regional ag organizations on Tuesday and filed a motion to intervene in the Gulf Restoration Network versus Jackson lawsuit. The lawsuit seeks to force the Environmental Protection Agency to establish federal numeric nutrient water quality standards for all states in the Mississippi River Basin. AFBF President Bob Stallman says setting appropriate numeric nutrient standards is a complex and difficult scientific undertaking - and he says EPA has proven it is not up to the task. According to Stallman - farmers have no reason to believe that EPA could establish scientifically defensible standards for any one state - much less for 40-percent of the U.S. land mass. He says farmers and their state governments in the Mississippi River Basin have worked successfully for years to minimize nutrient runoff and will continue to do so - but they oppose a one-size-fits-all approach.

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