Lawmakers in Congress from two farm states again asked for answers on Monday from the Environmental Protection Agency about surveillance flights over U.S. farms by the Obama Administration, demanding details on what some say is an operation that raises serious questions about privacy.
"Federal agencies shouldn't treat Iowa farmers like the Taliban," said Rep. Tom Latham (R-IA), who said the "American people deserve answers to fundamental questions about the EPA's surveillance procedures."
Some aren't even sure the EPA has the legal backing to conduct such flights, as lawamkers from Nebraska made clear in another letter to EPA chief Lisa Jackson.
"On what statutory authority is the EPA relying to conduct aerial surveillance inspections?" wrote the bipartisan congressional delegation from the Cornhusker State.
The EPA has publicly acknowledged that is has flown surveillance flights over Nebraska and Iowa, reportedly to check for violations of federal clean water laws relating to the regulation of livestock operations.
"Farmers deserve full disclosure and accountability from the EPA, especially when the agency is busy collecting information on them," said Rep. Latham on Monday.
"The American people deserve answers to some fundamental questions about the EPA’s surveillance procedures," Latham added.
The controversy over these surveillance flights is brewing just as the Senate is considering a major farm policy bill; it was not immediately clear if any lawmakers would use the debate to bring up this surveillance issue in coming days.
Aerial surveillance is nothing new when it comes to enforcing laws - for example, it is often used to detect marijuana growing operations.
But lawmakers say legitimate farming operations deserve to be treated differently, one reason they're unhappy with the level of information from the EPA about these surveillance flights over farm country.
