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Labor unions stand up for conservation programs |
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A group of 17 labor unions added their voice this week to the hunting,
fishing and farm groups looking for more support for conservation in
the next farm bill.
A group of unions affiliated with the AFL-CIO sent letters to the House
and Senate Agriculture committees this week asking for support for farm
bill conservation programs and proposals that would improve access to
private land for hunting and fishing.
"While our unions have not traditionally engaged directly in
the formation of the farm bill, we are well aware that the conservation
title of the farm bill is the single largest federal investment in
conservation on private land, which covers more than half the landscape
in the lower 48 states," the letter states. "We have a keen interest in
advocating for our members' interests not only in the workplace but
also in the fields, forests and waters so many of them spend their hard
earned time in."
The unions represent more than 3 million hunters and anglers.
They are part of a group of unions that joined with the Theodore
Roosevelt Conservation Partnership earlier this year to lobby for
increased federal funding for protecting habitat while guaranteeing
access for hunters and recreational fishers.
The letter endorses the recommendations from the Agriculture
and Wildlife Working Group report that calls for expanding the
Conservation Reserve Program and other land retirement programs, among
other recommendations. The working group includes the Theodore
Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, along with 15 other hunting,
fishing and environmental groups.
The unions also listed as a top priority an "open fields" bill
that would give grants to states for hunting and fishing programs on
private lands and backed a $20 million program in the farm bill. Sen.
Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) introduced the measure two years ago and is
expected to float a similar bill today.
Dueling biofuels proposals
The Agriculture and Wildlife Working Group has also been
working with Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) on a biofuels proposal that would
create a new farm bill program to help start up cellulosic energy
development. Thune is expected to introduce the "biofuels innovation
program" next week.
Republicans and Democrats from both the House and Senate
Agriculture committees have said a major goal in the next farm bill
will be to help farmers transition to switchgrass and other feedstocks
that could be used for cellulosic ethanol. But different members have
varying ideas on how to accomplish that goal.
The biofuels innovation proposal has more specific land and
wildlife requirements than the biofuels bill that Sen. Amy Klobuchar
(D-Minn.) introduced Tuesday. It would also place biofuels in a new
program in the energy title, rather than within existing conservation
programs.
Klobuchar's "Farm-to-Fuel Investment Act" would provide three
years of "transition assistance" for farmers to grow cellulosic crops,
then phase out payments. It won the backing of the National Farmers
Union and the Renewable Fuels Association.
The bill places some of the biofuels support within the
Conservation Security Program, but environmental and hunting groups
want a biofuels program completely separate from CSP, so the
conservation program can keep its focus on farmer environmental
stewardship payments.
"CSP should be used to lighten the impact of corn ethanol on
the landscape, biofuels just do not fit it very well," said Julie
Sibbing of the National Wildlife Federation, part of the working group
and a lead on the biofuels innovation program.
The National Wildlife Federation is also pushing for the
biofuels program to require the use of native grasses and scheduling
harvest times around the nesting season of birds.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 31 October 2007 )
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