Senator Wants EPA
Funds Slashed 25%

OMAHA, Neb. —(AP)— Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel said late last week that funding for the federal Environmental Protection Agency should be cut 25 percent until it brings sound science and common sense to its regulatory actions.

In testimony submitted to a Senate Appropriations subcommittee, the Republican senator said EPA disregards private property rights, sound science and common sense in its pursuit of radical actions to protect the environment.

Examples of EPA overreaching include proposed livestock regulations, copper standards for drinking water and efforts to control regional haze at national parks, Hagel said.

The EPA is needed, Hagel said, but it must be held accountable.

Hagel said livestock regulations being proposed would be too broad and fail a "real world" test. He said 64 water systems in Nebraska are struggling to meet unreasonable EPA regulations on copper in drinking water, and efforts at reducing regional haze at federal parks include four Nebraska counties.

The EPA claims Nebraska’s Cherry and Sheridan counties contribute to regional haze in the Badlands Wilderness Area and National Park in South Dakota, while Cuming and Cedar counties contribute to pollution in Voyageurs National Park in Minnesota.

Nebraska officials have argued that all four are largely rural counties without significant manufacturing industries and lie several hundred miles from the parks.