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to facilitate cooperation between EPA and USDA in Targeted Watersheds. While both agencies 

 have complementary expertise and funding to address agricultural nonpoint source pollution, 

 closer cooperation between the agencies could streamline the provision of crucial resources to 

 producers. Under "planned intervention" in Texas, CWA section 319 funds for agricultural 

 nonpoint source pollution flow from EPA Region VI to TSSWCB via TNRCC, while USDA 

 funding comes down traditional agency channels through ASCS and SCS. Once a watershed is 

 targeted by the state Agricultural Lead Agency, all necessary resources must be available to 

 agricultural producers in a timely manner to allow efficient development and implementation of 

 site-specific plans. 



The constituency committee process is an innovative policy-development mechanism employed 

 by TIAER in much of the Institute's work. The constituency committee process is grounded on 

 the premise that effective policy development requires the active participation of stakeholders 

 potentially affected by issues under consideration. As the influence of government bureaucracies 

 and professional lobbyists in the political process has grown, the perspectives of individuals truly 

 affected by policy decisions are often lost. Bureaucracies and lobbyists are pseudo-stakeholders, 

 not directly affected interest groups. Thus, constituency committee members are selected to 

 represent the widest possible range of truly affected interests. Elected government officials chair 

 constituency committee meetings to help insure regular participation by committee members. 

 In the process, these officials receive in-depth briefing on the issues under discussion which can 

 facilitate the development of new legislation based on committee recommendations. Committee 

 members thoroughly discuss the issues at hand in an effort to develop consensus. Issues on 

 which no consensus exists are reported accordingly. Because committee recommendations must 

 withstand close scrutiny from a variety of perspectives, legislation incorporating those 

 recommendations will often enjoy broad support. 



Such was the case concerning the implementation of "planned intervention" in Texas. As part 

 of a CWA section 319 project conducted by TIAER in the Upper North Bosque River watershed, 

 TIAER convened a constituency committee comprised of representatives of the area's burgeoning 

 dairy industry, environmental groups and citizens generally concerned about environmental 

 quality within the watershed. At the time, tension was high in the community due to reports 

 attributing water quality degradation and odor to an influx of large dairy operations between 

 1985-90. After several meetings, the committee recommended that an alternative environmental 

 compliance program be developed for relatively small dairy operations ( < 250 milking head) not 

 subject to the TNRCC waste discharge permitting process. TIAER published that 

 recommendation in its 1992 Interim Report to the Joint Interim Committee on the Environment, 

 72nd Texas Legislature. The recommendation was embodied in Senate Bills 502 and 503, both 

 of which unanimously passed the Texas House and Senate. "Planned intervention" for all 

 agricultural nonpoint sources of pollution was the result. 



Summary 



Agriculture is today a salient target for nonpoint source pollution prevention and abatement 

 initiatives. However, the policies, institutions and compliance strategies developed to control 

 point source pollution over the past 25 years are often inappropriate when applied to agricultural 



lcfl006t/TIAER:3/21/94 O 



