A coalition of 38 major farm groups, including American Soybean Association (ASA), wrote to House Agriculture Committee leaders in advance of the Committee’s oversight hearing on Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) policies that affect U.S. agriculture. The hearing was scheduled for January 26 but postponed due to weather; a new hearing date has not been set.

While the groups commended EPA on some thoughtful actions, including the agency’s approaches to protecting the monarch butterfly and development of state managed pollinator protection plans, they also raised a number of concerns about the agency’s general conduct.

Among them the concerns were EPA’s reliance on inaccurate modeling in its broad rule making to implement TMDL total maximum daily load) limits within the Chesapeake Bay watershed; publication of its paper which concluded that neonicotinoid seed treatments for soybean “provide negligible overall benefits” and was repudiated by United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists; as well as the final clean water rule, which is even broader than the proposed rule, among many others.

“These specific items are not exhaustive but do represent some of the most pressing issues farmers and ranchers currently face from EPA regulations. We commend the Committee for undertaking this oversight hearing, and we stand ready to work with you on common sense reforms that reflect Congressional intent without infringing on the legitimate rights of the agricultural community” the groups wrote.

The full text of the letter is available here.