Nittany Notes: PSU-Illinois game guide

RFP deadline for downtown development extended

First Posted: 7/23/2014 After reading the commentary by Pennsylvania Farm Bureau Executive Director Carl T. Shaffer (June 19), which planted seeds of misinformation about the Environmental Protection Agency&#8217;s and Army Corps of Engineers&#8217; proposed rule to protect clean water, it was a pleasant surprise to read the rebuttal, &#8220;Farm Bureau badly mistaken on reach of EPA&#8217;s proposed water rule&#8221; (June 24) from a retired U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employee.
Let&#8217;s be clear. A farmer can plow, cultivate seed, perform minor drainage, and harvest &#8211; &#8216;til the cows come home &#8211; because the administration&#8217;s proposal to protect clean water maintains all current agricultural exemptions in the Clean Water Act and even codifies additional waters that are explicitly exempted from permitting requirements. To claim anything else is disingenuous.
And, farmers won&#8217;t be the only ones to see the benefits from the proposal. All Pennsylvanians who rely on rivers and streams for their drinking water are impacted by the proposal because it restores protections to 10,720 miles of streams in Pennsylvania that 63 percent of our residents depend on for drinking water.
Some of Pennsylvania&#8217;s elected officials, such as U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster, are leading the charge to maintain the status quo &#8211; which means confusion about which streams and wetlands are protected and leaving the water for one in three Pennsylvanians at risk. Despite the fact that 250,000 Americans already have commented, the U.S. House and certain Senators are attempting an end run around the 180-day comment period.
We need U.S. Sen. Robert Casey and his colleagues to reject attempts to deny the Army Corps of Engineers the funding needed to implement the proposed rule.
It&#8217;s OK for the Farm Bureau to &#8220;make hay while the sun shines,&#8221; but it should not keep its members and The Times Leader&#8217;s readers in the dark about the benefits of EPA&#8217;s Clean Water rule.
Brooks Mountcastle
Eastern PA director
Clean Water Action
Philadelphia

Farm Bureau clouded Clean Water issue