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 [log in to unmask] ============================================================ 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] [log in to unmask] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - For SC email list T-and-C, send: GET TERMS-AND-CONDITIONS.CURRENT to [log in to unmask]