[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 8]
[House]
[Pages 10686-10687]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    PROTECTING FARMERS FROM THE EPA

  (Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, last Friday, on June 20, 
members of the Pennsylvania congressional delegation joined together to 
protect Pennsylvania farmers by fighting back against another 
regulatory overreach by the Environmental Protection Agency.
  I, along with Senator Pat Toomey and U.S. Representatives Scott 
Perry, Lou Barletta, and Bill Shuster, filed a brief with the U.S. 
Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia, in a case that 
centers on the proper scope of the EPA's authority under the Clean 
Water Act and the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
  Over the past decade, regional and State-led conservation efforts 
have

[[Page 10687]]

substantially reduced agriculture's ecological footprint within the 
watershed. Today, farmers continue to improve land management practices 
and remain the best stewards of our natural resources, which their 
livelihoods are dependent upon.
  Despite these success stories, the EPA is seeking to seize, for the 
Federal Government, powers traditionally held by the States and impose 
an unconscionable economic burden on farmers and taxpayers.
  Mr. Speaker, the EPA has continued a foolish and impractical pursuit 
to put forth oppressive mandates that threaten the economic livelihood 
of our local farms and businesses. It is abuse of power that cannot and 
will not be tolerated.

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