CBS reports:
The newly appointed administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday the only way to confront climate-change challenges and environmental problems facing agriculture is for farmers and government agencies to work together.
Gina McCarthy, EPA administrator for three weeks, said she accepted Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad’s invitation to the Iowa State Fair to celebrate steps Iowa is taking to control the runoff of farm fertilizer and manure.
Her brief speech was positive and repeatedly stressed the theme of collaboration. She declined to take questions from reporters and left the Iowa Farm Bureau building on the state fairgrounds after posing for a few photos without further comment.
“The challenge today is just to stop arguing about the problem and really start driving solutions,” she said in the speech.
I didn’t see anything at the link where McCarthy acknowledged scientific debate over global warming, If she did acknowledge it, she needs to send a memo to Interior…but she seems to plan to bull ahead with bad policy even if there’s a debate. “…just to stop arguing about the problem…” means to surrender to the Luddites.
Nutrient runoff into streams can be a real problem. Some of it always goes on and is necessary for aquatic life; Sony had one factory that returned water that was too clean to support nearby fish and they wound up putting dog food in the water to supply nutrients. Excessive fertilizer runoff or pesticide runoff can’t be a good thing; now define “excessive”.
“The challenge today is just to [ignore the science] and really start [forcing] solutions,” she said in the speech. Why is it that someone else always has to say what they mean in terms understandable to all?