March 3, 2000

It’s been a busy couple of weeks for Congressman Jim Turner. Not only has he visited EPA and the White House over EPA’s proposed rules for silviculture and agriculture, he is sponsoring legislation with Rep. Max Sandlin of Texas and Rep. Marion Berry of Arkansas to stop them.

"It is my belief that EPA is going too far in its attempt to regulate land use to protect water quality," the District 2 congressman said. "For 27 years, under the Clean Water Act, forestry and agriculture have never been considered point sources of pollution. And as such they’re treated differently under the law. What our legislation does is make that perfectly clear."

Turner said the legislation will garner a large number of cosponsors. And, H.R. 3609 will be heard in the House Agriculture Committee. A looming problem, however, could be the environmental community.

"Any time you talk about anything that can affect the environment, there are strong forces, as we’ve seen already in East Texas on other issues, that are at work on the other side," he said. "So we have to be resolute in our opposition, we have to continue to let EPA know how we feel, and we have to hope that in the end we can prevail."

Turner offered no guarantee’s on the bill’s passage. But he did offer a word of encouragement.