Regulatory Train Wreck Threatens Rural America
By National Cattlemen Beef Association
WASHINGTON – The Obama administration on June 9, 2011, announced the creation of a White House Rural Council to address rural economic potentials as well as challenges. In his executive order, President Obama said the Council was established “to make sure we’re working across government to strengthen rural communities and promote economic growth.” While the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) believes efforts need to be made to rejuvenate economic opportunities and job creation in rural America, Bob McCan, NCBA policy division chair, said the administration is overlooking the negative impact government regulatory overreach has already had on rural America. McCan said the federal government’s overregulation is a huge factor in stifling economic growth in America’s farm and ranch communities and also plays a role in keeping future generations from staying in or returning to rural areas.
“The flood of regulations coming out of our federal government is literally breathtaking. You would think someone would wake up and realize that more than anything, we need commonsense rulemaking based on sound science rather than a piling on of burdensome, financially devastating regulations void of science,” said McCan who is also a Texas rancher. “I agree that we need to find ways to revitalize economic growth in rural America but rather than a bureaucratic, ivory-tower based rural council, a good first step would be to control the onslaught of unnecessary regulations. This regulatory train wreck will lead farmers and ranchers to bankruptcy if action isn’t taken to curtail this situation.”
According to Colin Woodall, NCBA vice president of government affairs, from 2006-2017 nearly 60 regulations have been identified that pose threats to the U.S. cattle industry. He said 65 percent of those regulations are linked to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. NCBA has put together a graphic display of these regulations (click here for the graphic).
“Too often, bureaucrats in Washington look outside the Beltway for an explanation of the shrinking numbers of farmers and ranchers in the United States,” he said. “The unfortunate truth, however, is many times they need to look no further than the confines of Washington where many of the people who regulate our industry have never been on a farm and don’t have the foggiest idea where their food comes from or how it’s produced. It’s perplexing that an Administration that claims to care about rural America would impose so many costly regulations on the backbone of the rural economy. Apparently, they just don’t get it.”
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