Water Act issues are critically important to agriculture, including 

 wetlands and nonpoint source pollution. Neither the Senate nor the 

 House bill currently contains wetlands provisions; both address 

 nonpoint source pollution. We anticipate a sequential referral of 

 clean water legislation after the Public Works Committee markup 

 probably in mid- to late-April and we look forward to our oppor- 

 tunity in this subcommittee and the full House Agriculture Com- 

 mittee to make our impact on the legislation at that time. 



The goal of clean water is shared by many, but the real challenge 

 is finding the best way to achieve the goal. With the increased 

 focus on pollution caused by nonpoint sources, it is imperative that 

 the needs of agriculture are included in any changes in nonpoint 

 source management programs. The testimony to be presented to 

 the subcommittee today will be helpful to those of us who are con- 

 cerned about the impact of wetlands and nonpoint source pollution 

 regulation on production agriculture. 



There are many issues surrounding wetlands and nonpoint 

 source pollution regulation and several different legislative propos- 

 als have been introduced, including those which have been referred 

 to the Agriculture Committee. Also, the administration's Clean 

 Water Initiative has served as a basis for the comprehensive Clean 

 Water Act reauthorizing legislation introduced in both the House 

 and the Senate, H.R. 3949 in the House. While neither the House 

 or Senate bill currently contain wetlands provisions, both contain 

 provisions which address nonpoint source pollution. 



I look forward to hearing the testimony from the administration 

 and the rest of the witnesses, and to continue working with Chair- 

 man de la Garza and other members of the committee as we move 

 forward on reauthorizing the Clean Water Act. 



We want to expedite things today and I am going to hold to a 

 fairly strict 5-minute rule on both testimony from witnesses and 

 from questions from the members of this subcommittee so that we 

 can hear everyone and get on with the hearing and give us an op- 

 portunity to review the testimony at a later time. 



The Chair recognizes the chairman of the full House Agriculture 

 Committee, Mr. de la Garza. 



OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. E (KIKA) de la GARZA, A 

 REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF TEXAS 



The Chairman. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I appre- 

 ciate you holding this hearing today on these issues of great impor- 

 tance 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. 



As chairman of the Agriculture Committee, I am well aware of 

 the frustrations experienced by farmers, ranchers, and landowners 

 across the country with Federal wetlands rules and proposed 

 nonpoint source pollution remedies. We know what our producers 

 need. As a matter of fact, . I go around saying that all a farmer 

 needs for this vast country of ours and the production that we 

 have, besides being a good farmer, is good land, clean air, and 

 clean water. Blaming the farmer for messing up any one of those 

 three and thereby putting himself out of business, it is a little bit 

 bordering on the ridiculous. 



