from Defenders Rural Updates! This week, the Natural Resources Conservation Service announced opportunities for public comment on two of the biggest conservation programs in the farm bill. On February 10, the agency released the proposed rule for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program. This rule describes how the agency intends to administer the program, which received a huge funding boost in the 2002 farm bill, but also lost many of the restrictions that kept the bulk of the money out of the hands of the largest and most polluting livestock operations. Also on February 10, the NRCS released an "advance notice of proposed rulemaking" for the Conservation Security Program. This notice is a solicitation of publiccomment on issues on issues related to the implementation of the CSP, and comments are intended to help the agency move forward with developing the rule. Comments on both programs are due March 10. Stay tuned to Rural Updates! for details on how you can comment on, and hopefully help improve, the administration of EQIP and the CSP. You can access the new EQIP rule and related documents at: http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/eqip/ The CSP advanced notice of proposed rulemaking is available at: http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/farmbill/2002/rules/csp030110. html Erin E. Jordahl Director, Iowa Chapter Sierra Club 3839 Merle Hay Road, Suite 280 Des Moines, IA 50310 515-277-8868 [log in to unmask] www.iowa.sierraclub.org - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To get off the IOWA-TOPICS list, send any message to: [log in to unmask]