events are the Great Depression and the establishment of the Envi-
ronmental Protection Agency (EPA). The first event led to Con-
gress’s vesting the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)
with broad regulatory authority. The second removed some of that
authority from USDA and gave it to the EPA. This regulatory shift in
1970, brought about largely as the result of increased awareness and
interest in environmental issues, was followed by enactment of a
number of environmental laws and corresponding regulations that
conflicted with traditional agricultural practices and philosophies.
This in turn fostered a “them agin’ us” mind-set, pitting agri-
culturalists against environmentalists. The agricultural community
became concerned about erosion of property rights and suspicious of
the objectives of EPA’s long-term regulatory agenda.
This mind-set is countered by the environmental community’s sus-
picions that production philosophies and agriculture’s quest for prof-
its in the production of food and fiber overwhelmed environmental
concerns. These opposing perspectives have been and will be re-
sponsible for much of the controversy surrounding a number of envi-
ronmental issues facing today’s 103rd Congress.
The following environmental areas are earmarked for discussion
by the 103rd Congress: 1) reauthorization of the Clean Water Act
(CWA), including nonpoint source pollution, citizen suits, and wet-
lands; 2) endangered species; and 3) pesticides. They are of interest
to the agricultural sector, of interest to me, and have been ad-
dressed in several bills. Most notable among these bills is Baucus-
Chafee (Senate Bill 1114), which focuses on reauthorization of the
CWA. The bill, known as the “Water Pollution Prevention and Con-
trol Act of 1993,” was introduced by Senator Baucus (D-MT), chair
of the Environment and Public Works Committee, for himself and
Senator Chafee (R-RI), and has widespread bipartisan support and
appears to have the best chance of passage (Camia).
Nonpoint Source Pollution
Nonpoint source (NPS) pollution is extremely difficult and costly to
control. Complete abatement demands rethinking and retooling tra-
ditional agricultural production practices. NPS pollution has been
the target for increasing regulatory attention over the past two dec-
ades.
Federal interest in NPS pollution was first extensively addressed
by passage of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) of
1972 (33 U.S.C. Sec. 1251-1387). The intent of this legislation was to
restore and maintain the chemical, physical and biological integrity
of the nation’s waters (Hari, pp. 14- 11). To achieve this objective,
the federal government developed a strategy to end pollution
through the control of both point and nonpoint sources of pollution.
Point sources (PS) were defined as clearly identifiable points of dis-
178