EPA
drones spy on farmers in Nebraska and Iowa
The
Environmental Protection Agency has been accused of violating the
privacy of cattle farmers in Nebraska and Iowa by using drones to spy
on them.
6
June, 2012
Last
week, Nebraska’s congressional delegation submitted a joint letter
to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson expressing concerns about the
surveillance and questioning its legality.
The
EPA responded that the use of drones is legal and cost-effective.
The
surveillance has so far covered Region 7 (Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and
Missouri), but has focused on Nebraska and Iowa because of the high
concentration of livestock feeding operations in a watershed that has
a history of contamination.
Nebraska
Republican Rep. Adrian Smith, who co-chairs the Modern Agriculture
Caucus and the Congressional Rural Caucus, told The New American,
“landowners deserve legitimate justification given the sensitivity
of the information gathered by flyovers”.
“Nebraskans
are rightfully skeptical of an agency which continues to unilaterally
insert itself into the affairs of rural America,” Smith added.
The
EPA’s Region 7 office defended its actions in response to questions
raised by The Omaha World-Herald about the program’s legality. (SEE
ALSO: Former EPA ‘crucify them’ administrator avoids testifying
before House panel)
The
agency said that “courts, including the Supreme Court, have found
similar types of flights to be legal (for example to take aerial
photographs of a chemical manufacturing facility)” and that the EPA
“would use such flights in appropriate instances to protect people
and the environment from violations of the Clean Water Act”.
So
far, seven flights have taken place over Iowa, and nine over
Nebraska.
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