I hope ...

Help Support CattleToday:

I celebrated by eating beans and pretending I was a cow.

then I turned on all the lights in the house and danced naked. It was horrible.
 
I saw someone wearing an Earth Day t-shirt but that was about the extent of it. Did read some of the literature and learned that not only are we to watch our carbon footprint but we also are going to have to watch our water footprint as well. Info on this wasn't cattle friendly in the least. Seems it takes about 2200 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef.
 
we have been trying to tell our local farmers around here to get ready for the water wars.

here in the east we have never had the conflicts that were the stuff of legend in the west......

but with the population growth and ever increasing demand for water and the wide swings we have seen lately in drought and precipitation...

we are hearing quiet rumblings that indicate water use restrictions and permitting are in the future.

there is one county not ten miles from where I am sitting that has already stopped new home cosntruction by restricting new ground water withdrawals. If you can not drill a well you have a hard time living there.

we are telling producers who irrigate to report their water use. Many resist becasue they don't want the guvment to know how much water they are using. :cowboy:

Our response is that when restrictions come, if you do not have a record of use and need, then use will not be grandfathered in and new applications for large scale use may not be approved.

The EPA and Army Corps of Engineers in protecting wetlands has pretty much stopped all legal pond construction in our area. About the only ponds that can be built around here are runoff ponds and they all fail in dry weather. :dunce:

Then there are 1. storm water and 2. dam safety concerns and always emerging new regulations. We have both of these areas from our state legislature this year and I bet it comes as no suprise that they are in direct conflict.

It is serious business as the EPA came in and threatened to put our Public Works director in jail if the county did not tighten environmental regulations. We have yet to figure out why our county was targeted and other counties in the area continue with business as usual but they all did observe what happened here and are at least planning changes. Our public works director is a stand up guy but to stay out of jail he has had to enforce regulations by taking citizens to court over environmental issues. by virtue of my employment I have been deposed several times in litigation.
 
Its going to get interesting and this new front will affect everyone in agriculture. The information I read was quite interesting as it stated that Americans use more water than anyone else on the planet - 600 liters per day but the further one moved away from agriculture the smaller the person's water footprint would be. Article went on to say with the global climate change and the growing world population this is unsustainable and WE owe it to the people in the developing countries to stop this waste.

Yes, its going to be interesting. There is some negotiations taking place at this moment in Washington with a new bill. As it stands now, this bill gives the jurisdiction of All Waters in the US to the EPA. This is unconstitutional as it violates State's rights under the public yrust doctorine and the constitution is pretty clear in specifying that the federal jurisdiction is over the navigatable waters (intent to protect commerce - specifically shipping) Of course the sponsors (both D&R) of the bill say this is not their intent.

If I didn't know better, after reading this information I would have been left with the impression that folks in agriculture are wasteful people who just need to quit raising protein and fiber and move to town and buy their food at Walmart like everyone else does. :dunce:

I'm afraid its going to get worse.

pdfangus":1hum5xgj said:
We have yet to figure out why our county was targeted and other counties in the area continue with business as usual but they all did observe what happened here and are at least planning changes. Our public works director is a stand up guy but to stay out of jail he has had to enforce regulations by taking citizens to court over environmental issues. by virtue of my employment I have been deposed several times in litigation.

From personal experience I would guess you have one overzealous public servant who is making it hard on you. If you can identify who this person is then you can take measures to have this person removed from their position. Its difficult but it can be done. Our lives are much better without our little nit wit.
 
alacattleman":10hxdc35 said:
i celebrate earth day everyday,,,,,rain or shine... as any cowboy or cattleman would :tiphat:

I hope you watching that water footprint! :lol2: :lol2: :lol2:
 
Jo,

don't think anyone is after me.....
when a case goes to court I have usualy been involved in some way and either get called as a witness or even as an alleged expert witness.

have been subpoenaed by both sides.
 
pdfangus":12idm9s4 said:
don't think anyone is after me.....

Meant you in a plural sense referring to your county. We had a similar situation a few years ago. Had a nut case that messed with everyone. He was a real piece of work. He's gone now. Course you might want to pay closer attention to the shadows cause that's where they normally hide. And under your bed. ;-) :nod:
 
alacattleman":3fmi0ofm said:
http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/james-gregory/348e0f7e46c8557a2631348e0f7e46c8557a2631-1640965013948 here's a redneck version :cowboy:
Crack me up! and I HATE RATS!!!!!!

alacattleman and Jo, glad you enjoyed the video, but I can't take credit for finding it. An OLD, OLD friend sent it to me and I thought it fitting for this thread. Did I mention this friend is really super duper OLD?
 

Latest posts

Top