Last year, when President Clinton revealed his Clean Water Action Plan, and early this year when Vice President Gore unveiled the new federal US Department of Agriculture (USDS)/US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) strategy for animal feeding operations, environmentalists across the country were hopeful.

Hopeful that a few tentative first steps would be taken to control pollution from factory farms. Hopeful that Pfeisteria in the Chesapeake Bay, hydrogen sulfide emissions from hog lagoons, and dangerous bacteria in our rivers and streams would be addressed. Hopeful that the largest source of uncontrolled water pollution in the United States would finally have some regulatory oversight.

In West Virginia, we were hopeful that strong national standards would provide guidance to our lackluster state Division of Environmental Protection (DEP). We were hopeful that federal guidance would give DEP the political backbone to stand up to agricultural bad actors and provide regulatory oversight to the very largest poultry and hog facilities.

But now that hope has turned to disappointment and anger. From the beginning, the partnership between the USDA and the EPA was troublesome. USDA is a well-funded, politically powerful agency and a friend of corporate agriculture with no taste for regulations. EPA is unpopular, and has a small budget and fewer friends in Congress.

The danger is that USDA, in trying to protect corporate agriculture, will move into a dominant roll, stepping in to make decisions and offer weak or even non-existent regulatory oversight. EPA, happy to have USDA in their court, might acquiesce to anything that seems like a first step.

And that is just what seems to be happening this summer. Proposed nutrient management polices and permitting guidance promise to be weak and rely on details set by USDA. And what is worse for West Virginia is that the strong federal guidance that was promised has once again been delegated to the states. Major policy decisions could be made in little-known, state-level USDA offices with no significant public input.

This is a big setback for West Virginia, and the nation.

And what is even worse is that with all of the media attention on the administration’s program, the general public has gained confidence that the problem is being taken care of. The real question is not if, but when, the plan will backfire. We ask the Clinton/Gore administration to keep their promises. As new guidance on UNSAFO comes out, we ask them to send a strong message to corporate agriculture. We ask them to take an honest first step towards protecting our waters from factory farm pollution.