Statement by Rep. E (Kika) de la Garza of Texas 

 Chairman, House Committee on Agriculture 



Hearing on Impact of Wetlands and Nonpoint Source Pollution 



on Agricultural Lands Before the House Agriculture Subcommittee 



on Environment, Credit and Rural Development 



March 23, 1994 



Mr. Chairman, thank you for holding this hearing today on these issues of great 

 importance to agriculture. It is obvious to me and others that, in the past, Federal 

 wetlands policy has been neither fair to landowners nor effective in protecting 

 wetlands. It is my hope that we are on the verge of changing that policy. In addition, 

 we need to hear how the new Clean Water Act proposals to address nonpoint source 

 pollution will impact agricultural producers. 



As Chairman of the Committee on Agriculture, I am well aware of the 

 frustrations experienced by farmers, ranchers and landowners across the country with 

 current Federal wetlands rules and proposed nonpoint source pollution remedies. It is 

 clear to me that any true people-oriented Clean Water policy must be sensitive to the 

 productive needs of our nation's agricultural landowners. 



Our nation's agricultural producers and the Committee on Agriculture must be a 

 part of this Clean Water debate. That is why I joined the distinguished Chairman of 

 the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, Mr. Studds, as an original 

 cosponsor of H.R. 3465, the Wetlands Protection and Management Act. I agreed to 

 cosponsor this legislation so that it could serve as a starting point in the deliberations 

 on wetlands here in the House. This measure has provided the Committee on 

 Agriculture with an opportunity to address the regulation of wetlands as they relate to 

 agricultural land. 



My cosponsorship does not mean I support every provision in the bill as 

 written. Indeed, while it represents a substantial improvement over the current 

 situation, I strongly believe further reforms are needed to address agricultural and 

 landowner concerns. However, I also believe the time has come for Congress to work 

 in a cooperative spirit to strike a more reasonable balance between landowner rights 

 and environmental protection. 



We must also seek to separate fact from fiction and the news media headlines. 

 One example is in my area of South Texas with the Rio Grande. The world heard 

 through mass media how polluted it was, that it caused multiple diseases and birth 

 defects, that its water wasn't fit for drinking purposes. We now find out from a study 

 by several agencies that none of this was true; that there is very little if any pollution in 

 the river and that none of the sensational headlines were indeed factual. 



Mr. Chairman, I look forward to working with you, the Administration and, more 

 importantly, farmers, ranchers and agricultural landowners to achieve this goal. 



