Hanta Yo Wrote
Something to be very cognizant about: This scares the h#@* out of me, we need to group together and make a difference!!! Please, please, please make YOUR VOICE HEARD before April 17!!!!! This is just another ploy to get rid of farmers, ranchers, feedlots; anything that creates some dust!! It's absolutely CRAZY!!!!! I will be faxing my copies tonight. I sure don't see R-CALF working on this...
Re: URGENT CALL TO ACTION: Cattle Producers Must Make Their Voices Heard at EPA
______________________________________________________________
In Late January, EPA announced it's proposed rule to regulate particulate matter or dust. With the April 17 deadline for comment submission now just over one week away, WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT! NCBA has requested a deadline extension, but not knowing whether or not this will be granted, NOW is the time that we need to submit our comments opposing this proposal to regulate dust. As is the case on so many environmental issues, there are thousands of activists that will be submitting comments on this rule. While the science of this issue is on our side, WE MUST MAKE OUR VOICES HEARD. Every affiliate organization and all producers need to submit comments to EPA opposing this proposal prior to the APRIL 17, 2006 Submission Deadline!
To help us defeat this unfounded and potentially devastating proposal to regulate dust, we are asking that ALL affiliate organizations submit the set of comments attached below as well as a document containing a letter that Secretary Johanns sent to EPA Administrator Steve Johnson last July and our supporting scientific analysis from Dr. Jonathan Borak. This document is very similar to the actual comments that NCBA will be submitting, and we need each of you to do the same.
1. Please customize the comments attached below to reflect submission by YOUR ORGANIZATION.
<<PM Affiliate Comments 041706.DOC>>
2. Click on http://hill.beef.org/pdfs/SupportingInfoPMAffiliateComments041706.pdf to print off or copy the document containing the letter sent from USDA to EPA and supporting documents from Dr. Jonathan Borak from Yale University.
3. Submit all of the above information to Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2001-0017, in any one of the following ways:
http://www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line instructions for submitting comments.
E-mail:
[email protected]
Fax: 202-566-1749
Mail: Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2001-0017
Environmental Protection Agency
Mailcode:6102T
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20460
While we are asking that all affiliates submit the long version of NCBA's comments attached above, we need each of you to help us generate a large volume of comments to EPA by urging your members to submit the brief comment letter and letter from USDA to EPA attached below. These comments can be submitted in any of the methods outlined above, but it is imperative that producers understand that these comments must be submitted by Monday, April 17, 2006.
Please use every tool at your disposal to get these comments in your producers' hands, and encourage them to submit them immediately. Knowing that there will be thousands of comments received at EPA from our activist opposition on this issue, we need to focus on getting as many people to submit our comments as possible. To help us reach this goal, PLEASE MAKE EVERY EFFORT TO GET AT LEAST 30 PRODUCERS FROM YOUR STATE TO SUBMIT THESE COMMENTS! If we work together, we can ensure that our position is heard loudly by the leaders at EPA!
<<PM Producer Comments 041706.doc>> <<PM Johanns lettter to EPA Administrator 073105.pdf>>
If you have any questions or need further information, feel free to contact me at
[email protected] or (202) 347-0228.
************************************************************
Agenda 21`
Environment and Development Agenda
Preamble
Introduction
Combating Poverty
Changing Consumption Patterns
Demographic Dynamics and Sustainability
Protection and Promotion of Human Health
Promoting Sustainable Human Settlement Development
Integrating Environment and Development in Decision-Making
Protection of the Atmosphere
Integrated Approach to the Planning and Management of Land Resources
Combating Deforestation
Managing Fragile Ecosystems: Combating Desertification and Drought
Managing Fragile Ecosystems: Sustainable Mountain Development
Promoting Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development
Conservation of Biological Diversity
Environmentally Sound Management of Biotechnology
PROTECTION OF THE OCEANS, ALL KINDS OF SEAS, INCLUDING ENCLOSED AND SEMI-ENCLOSED SEAS AND COASTAL AREAS AND THE PROTECTION RATIONAL USE AND DEVELOPMENT OF THEIR LIVING RESOURCES
PROTECTION OF THE QUALITY AND SUPPLY OF FRESHWATER RESOURCES: APPLICATION OF INTEGRATED APPROACHES TO THE DEVELOPMENT, MANAGEMENT AND USE OF WATER RESOURCES
Promoting Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development
INTRODUCTION
14.1. By the year 2025, 83 per cent of the expected global population of 8.5 billion will be living in developing countries. Yet the capacity of available resources and technologies to satisfy the demands of this growing population for food and other agricultural commodities remains uncertain. Agriculture has to meet this challenge, mainly by increasing production on land already in use and by avoiding further encroachment on land that is only marginally suitable for cultivation.
14.2. Major adjustments are needed in agricultural, environmental and macroeconomic policy, at both national and international levels, in developed as well as developing countries, to create the conditions for sustainable agriculture and rural development (SARD). The major objective of SARD is to increase food production in a sustainable way and enhance food security. This will involve education initiatives, utilization of economic incentives and the development of appropriate and new technologies, thus ensuring stable supplies of nutritionally adequate food, access to those supplies by vulnerable groups, and production for markets; employment and income generation to alleviate poverty; and natural resource management and environmental protection.
14.3. The priority must be on maintaining and improving the capacity of the higher potential agricultural lands to support an expanding population. However, conserving and rehabilitating the natural resources on lower potential lands in order to maintain sustainable man/land ratios is also necessary. The main tools of SARD are policy and agrarian reform, participation, income diversification, land conservation and improved management of inputs. The success of SARD will depend largely on the support and participation of rural people, national Governments, the private sector and international cooperation, including technical and scientific cooperation.
14.4. The following programme areas are included in this chapter:
(a) Agricultural policy review, planning and integrated programming in the light of the multifunctional aspect of agriculture, particularly with regard to food security and sustainable development;
(b) Ensuring people's participation and promoting human resource development for sustainable agriculture;
(c) Improving farm production and farming systems through diversification of farm and non-farm employment and infrastructure development;
(d) Land-resource planning information and education for agriculture;
(e) Land conservation and rehabilitation;
(f) Water for sustainable food production and sustainable rural development; (g) Conservation and sustainable utilization of plant genetic resources for food and sustainable agriculture;
(h) Conservation and sustainable utilization of animal genetic resources for sustainable agriculture;
(i) Integrated pest management and control in agriculture;
(j) Sustainable plant nutrition to increase food production;
(k) Rural energy transition to enhance productivity;
(l) Evaluation of the effects of ultraviolet radiation on plants and animals caused by the depletion of the stratospheric ozone layer.
PROGRAMME AREAS
A. Agricultural policy review, planning and integrated programmes in the light of the multifunctional aspect of agriculture, particularly with regard to food security and sustainable development
Basis for action
14.5. There is a need to integrate sustainable development considerations with agricultural policy analysis and planning in all countries, particularly in developing countries. Recommendations should contribute directly to development of realistic and operational medium- to long-term plans and programmes, and thus to concrete actions. Support to and monitoring of implementation should follow.
14.6. The absence of a coherent national policy framework for sustainable agriculture and rural development (SARD) is widespread and is not limited to the developing countries. In particular the economies in transition from planned to market-oriented systems need such a framework to incorporate environmental considerations into economic activities, including agriculture. All countries need to assess comprehensively the impacts of such policies on food and agriculture sector performance, food security, rural welfare and international trading relations as a means for identifying appropriate offsetting measures. The major thrust of food security in this case is to bring about a significant increase in agricultural production in a sustainable way and to achieve a substantial improvement in people's entitlement to adequate food and culturally appropriate food supplies.
14.7. Sound policy decisions pertaining to international trade and capital flows also necessitate action to overcome: (a) a lack of awareness of the environmental costs incurred by sectoral and macroeconomic policies and hence their threat to sustainability; (b) insufficient skills and experience in incorporating issues of sustainability into policies and programmes; and (c) inadequacy of tools of analysis and monitoring. 1/
Objectives
14.8. The objectives of this Programme area are:
(a) By 1995, to review and, where appropriate, establish a programme to integrate environmental and sustainable development with policy analysis for the food and agriculture sector and relevant macroeconomic policy analysis, formulation and implementation;
(b) To maintain and develop, as appropriate, operational multisectoral plans, programmes and policy measures, including programmes and measures to enhance sustainable food production and food security within the framework of sustainable development, not later than 1998;
(c) To maintain and enhance the ability of developing countries, particularly the least developed ones, to themselves manage policy, programming and planning activities, not later than 2005.
Activities
(a) Management-related activities
14.9. Governments at the appropriate level, with the support of the relevant international and regional organizations, should:
(a) Carry out national policy reviews related to food security, including adequate levels and stability of food supply and access to food by all households;
(b) Review national and regional agricultural policy in relation, inter alia, to foreign trade, price policy, exchange rate policies, agricultural subsidies and taxes, as well as organization for regional economic integration;
(c) Implement policies to influence land tenure and property rights positively with due recognition of the minimum size of land-holding required to maintain production and check further fragmentation;
(d) Consider demographic trends and population movements and identify critical areas for agricultural production;
(e) Formulate, introduce and monitor policies, laws and regulations and incentives leading to sustainable agricultural and rural development and improved food security and to the development and transfer of appropriate farm technologies, including, where appropriate, low-input sustainable agricultural (LISA) systems;
(f) Support national and regional early warning systems through food-security assistance schemes that monitor food supply and demand and factors affecting household access to food;
(g) Review policies with respect to improving harvesting, storage, processing, distribution and marketing of products at the local, national and regional levels;
(h) Formulate and implement integrated agricultural projects that include other natural resource activities, such as management of rangelands, forests, and wildlife, as appropriate;
(i) Promote social and economic research and policies that encourage sustainable agriculture development, particularly in fragile ecosystems and densely populated areas;
(j) Identify storage and distribution problems affecting food availability; support research, where necessary, to overcome these problems and cooperate with producers and distributors to implement improved practices and systems.
(b) Data and information
14.10. Governments at the appropriate level, with the support of the relevant international and regional organizations, should:
(a) Cooperate actively to expand and improve the information on early warning systems on food and agriculture at both regional and national levels;
(b) Examine and undertake surveys and research to establish baseline information on the status of natural resources relating to food and agricultural production and planning in order to assess the impacts of various uses on these resources, and develop methodologies and tools of analysis, such as environmental accounting.
(c) International and regional cooperation and coordination
14.11. United Nations agencies, such as FAO, the World Bank, IFAD and GATT, and regional organizations, bilateral donor agencies and other bodies should, within their respective mandates, assume a role in working with national Governments in the following activities:
(a) Implement integrated and sustainable agricultural development and food security strategies at the subregional level that use regional production and trade potentials, including organizations for regional economic integration, to promote food security;
(b) Encourage, in the context of achieving sustainable agricultural development and consistent with relevant internationally agreed principles on trade and environment, a more open and non-discriminatory trading system and the avoidance of unjustifiable trade barriers which together with other policies will facilitate the further integration of agricultural and environmental policies so as to make them mutually supportive;
http://www.unep.org/Documents.multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=52&ArticleID=