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KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) - Cattle farmers complained on Wednesday that a federalagency is "spying" on their operations by flying airplanes overMidwest cattle feedlots to see if they are complying with cleanwater regulations. The livestock producers and some members of Congress from ruralareas want to know why the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) isusing airplanes to monitor whether feedlots are obeying the CleanWater Act. "The federal government has literally resorted to spying onproducers," said Kristen Hassebrook, natural resources andenvironmental affairs director for the Nebraska Cattlemen. Her association advised two U.S. senators and three members of theU.S. House of Representatives from Nebraska in drafting a letter toEPA Administrator Lisa Jackson on the matter. They said the aerialsurveillance raises privacy concerns and they question thestatutory authority for the flights. Hassebrook said inspections and photographs from high in the airmay result in faulty assumptions about whether a feedlot isoperating properly, which could expose the owner to unfoundedallegations. Feedlots are where cattle are kept in confinement and fedintensively until they are ready for slaughter. Because there areusually large numbers in a limited space, the accumulation ofmanure needs to be disposed. The waste can pollute ground water. The EPA defended the flights on Wednesday as part of its effort toenforce the law, which sets standards for how cattle feedlots areto dispose of manure to avoid pollution. "EPA uses over-flights, state records and other publicly availablesources of information to identify discharges of pollution," said astatement issued by the EPA's Kansas City regional office. "In nocase has EPA taken an enforcement action solely on the basis ofthese over-flights." EPA has for 10 years used flyovers to verify compliance withenvironmental laws on watersheds as a "cost-effective" tool tominimize inspection costs, according to the statement. The EPA did not say how long the feedlots have been under aerialinspection, but Hassebrook said her group believes it began in2010. The EPA held a meeting in West Point, Nebraska, in March to discussthe flyovers in Nebraska and Iowa, Hassebrook said. About 125cattle producers attended the meeting, she said. The letter from the Nebraska members of Congress raises questionsabout the frequency of the flights, who gets inspected, whatbecomes of pictures or video and whether the EPA is also lookingfor violations unrelated to the Clean Water Act. "Nebraskans are rightly skeptical of an agency which continues tounilaterally insert itself into the affairs of rural America,"congressman Adrian Smith of Nebraska said in a statement onTuesday. Farmers have been at loggerheads for years with the EPA overeverything from water pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, todust in the air from crops and fields. The nation's largest farmorganization, the American Farm Bureau Federation, last year suedthe EPA, and several states have complained about what they callexcessive regulation. The EPA defends the regulation as necessary to protect theenvironment. (Editing by Greg McCune and Eric Beech ). We are high quality suppliers, our products such as China Adult Plastic Incontinence Pants , Medical Compression Stockings for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Washable Incontinence Pants.
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