From: "Kristen Corselius" <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2001
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Sierra Club Wants Flood Reduction in Farm Bill

Farm Bill News ([log in to unmask])    Posted: 08/28/2001  By
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============================================================

United Press International
August 27, 2001, Monday

The Sierra Club, an environmental activist organization, is working with
Midwest farmers to persuade Congress to include wetlands and conservation
programs when they vote on a Farm Bill later this year.

Sierra Club officials were in Davenport, Iowa, last week at the Mississippi
River Mayor's meeting to gather support for their cause, which they say
would make communities along the river less susceptible to severe floods.

"Communities can protect themselves from flooding by restoring wetlands
upstream, buying out flood victims and stopping floodplain sprawl
development," Chicago-based hydrologist Donald Hey said.

Hey contends that most flood damage can be reduced by restoring 3 percent
of the land in the Upper Mississippi Basin to wetlands and natural habitat.
That even includes much of the flood damage suffered in 1993, when the
river overflowed and caused nearly $16 billion in damage to Midwestern
river communities. Hey contends that damages could have been reduced by
nearly $12 billion had there been more wetlands to accommodate water
overflow.

Activists and farmers say they would like to see more funding for Wetlands
and Conservation Reserve Programs that reduce floods and help flood
victims, rather than cuts such as what occurred in an emergency spending
bill approved earlier this year.

Funding was slashed by $189 million, which activists say would have been
enough money to pay for restoring 150,000 acres of wetlands.

A House agriculture committee already has recommended a version of a farm
bill that environmentalists say is inadequate for their concerns.

The full House is likely to support that bill when Congress reconvenes next
month, but the Democrat-controlled Senate already has said it intends to
make many changes when it gets hold of the bill in order to make changes
with environmental issues in mind.

Officials say they hope to have a farm bill -- which will dictate federal
farm policies for the next six years -- approved by the entire Congress by
October, with President Bush signing it into law by year's end.

Copyright 2001 U.P.I.

Kristen L. Corselius
Program Associate
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
2105 First Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55404 USA
Tel: (612) 870-3421
Fax: (612) 870-4846
Email: [log in to unmask]

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