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By Lori Potter
From: Kearney Hub
GRAND ISLAND — Neither asking nice nor a lawsuit have convinced officials of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency to share information that would save the state and natural resources districts hundreds of thousands of dollars.
So Central Platte Natural Resources District representatives took their case to Capitol Hill.
CPNRD General Manager Ron Bishop said Thursday at the NRD board meeting in Grand Island that a delegation of eight Nebraskans made a special trip to Washington, D.C., Feb. 8-10 to meet with Sens. Ben Nelson and Mike Johanns and 3rd District Rep. Adrian Smith.
Participants included Central Platte Directors Dick Mercer and Jim Bendfeldt of Kearney, Nebraska Association of Resources District Executive Director Dean Edson, and Nebraska Department of Natural Resources Deputy Director Jim Schneider.
“We got by far the most supportive comments by Sen. Nelson,” Bishop said, adding that Nelson already has sent a letter to Senate Appropriations Committee leaders seeking an appropriations bill amendment that would require FSA to share information with other conservation agencies.
Bishop said the data sought is basic information: a property’s owner and operator, its location, and the land use, specifically the irrigated acres reported.
Without the FSA information, NRD and state workers must gather their own data, which often involves on-site visits.
“It’s so we don’t have to reinvent that information for ourselves,” Bishop said about the need for FSA cooperation.
He said updating information for the entire NRD from Gothenburg to near Columbus on the north side of the Platte River would cost about $300,000. Bishop said his staff updates pieces of the district each year, so that the entire area is reviewed over four or five years.
He’d like to update records for the entire CPNRD annually for water quality monitoring, but that would cost too much time and money.
Bishop said DNR state record updates every five years also could be done with the existing FSA data.
A U.S. District Court judge ruled in FSA’s favor in a lawsuit filed by CPNRD. The case now is before a U.S. Court of Appeals. Bishop said a ruling on Central Platte’s appeal is expected this spring.
In the meantime, he’s asking officials at eastern Nebraska NRDs and members of the regional Groundwater Management Districts Association to ask their representatives in Congress to support the effort to get FSA to share information.
“Sen. Nelson can’t do the job all by himself,” Bishop said. “He’s going to need some support by others.”
CPNRD Director Mick Reynolds of Wood River asked why Johanns and Smith didn’t show the same support as Nelson.
“I don’t think I’d say there was not support,” Mercer replied, “just not as strong as Nelson. They didn’t say, ‘We’ll go out and mail a letter tomorrow.’”
Bendfeldt said Johanns and Smith talked more about getting the problem resolved in the next farm bill, due to be debated in 2012. Bishop said he expects Nelson to also support that idea while also attempting to get something done in the meantime.
Mercer said the February trip was the first of his many visits to Washington over the years that resulted in meeting with all three target legislators.
“It’s the most headway we’ve made (on the FSA issue). Ever,” Bishop said.
Some CPNRD officials will return to Washington March 12-16 for the NARD’s annual legislative conference. They’ll lobby legislators again on the FSA issue.
Bishop said the key message will be the same: “It’s costing us state money and local tax dollars to do what is already being done.”
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