U.S. Sens. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) are pleased that small family-owned farms will not be subjected to unlawful scrutiny by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Under pressure from Cochran, Wicker and other lawmakers in the Senate and House, OSHA has agreed to withdraw its 2011 guidance memorandum on regulating small farms with grain storage. That instructional memorandum was widely viewed as violating a long-standing congressional prohibition on OSHA regulation of small farms and as a potentially costly burden on more than 300,000 farms in the United States with on-farm grain storage.

“Farming is a hard business, particularly for small family-owned operations. This is why we’ve historically exempted small farms from the heavy hand of OSHA regulations,” said Cochran, ranking member of the Senate Agriculture Committee. “I am pleased the Department of Labor and OSHA have retreated from a misguided effort to extend their regulatory authority over small farming operations.”

The OSHA withdrawal of its June 2011 directive follows its acknowledgement in January that small farms with grain storage facilities are exempt from regulations, a concession made after Cochran, Wicker and 41 other senators demanded that OSHA stop its regulatory overreach toward small farms. Congress has specifically exempted small farm operations from OSHA regulations since 1976.

In withdrawing its recent push to oversee small farm grain bins, OSHA also reiterated its pledge to work with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and organizations representing farmers to clarify rules regarding grain storage.

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U.S. Senators Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss) are continuing their efforts to stop the Internal Revenue Service from effectively curbing free speech by targeting groups based on their political leanings.

The Mississippi Senators are original cosponsors of the Stop Targeting of Political Beliefs by the IRS Act (S.2011), which was introduced Tuesday. The legislation was written to confront the threat of the IRS issuing a final regulation that would limit the activities of 501(c)(4) organizations.

“The administration has taken an unacceptably halfhearted approach to investigating IRS actions targeting groups that champion conservative views,” Cochran said. “This bill would help by preventing the IRS from taking actions that inhibit free speech rights and from further damaging its reputation with the American people.”

“Regulations that hinder the constitutional right to free speech are not the way to restore Americans’ trust in the ability of the IRS to do its job,” Wicker said. “This bill would put a stop to additional rulemaking regarding political activity and protect all groups, particularly conservative nonprofit organizations, from being targeted unfairly.”

The legislation would prevent the IRS from targeting conservative 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations by imposing a one-year suspension of any IRS rulemaking related to 501(c)(4)s, including the new candidate-related political activity definition rolled out by the Treasury Department in November. That regulation would infringe on the free speech rights of these groups. The bill would also require the IRS to revert back to the IRS standards and definitions that were in place on Jan. 1, 2010 – a date prior to the agency’s inappropriate targeting.

Companion legislation (HR.3865) has been introduced in the House and is cosponsored by Representatives Gregg Harper (R-Miss.) and Alan Nunnelee (R-Miss.).

Related to the IRS scandal, Wicker and Cochran last year cosponsored the Taxpayer Nondiscrimination and Protection Act (S.941), which would amend the federal tax code by increasing the penalty for misuse of IRS enforcement tools. It would prohibit IRS employees from investigating individuals based on factors related to political or social views. Violators would be subject to fines and imprisonment for up to five years.

LINKS:
• Stop Targeting of Political Beliefs by the IRS Act background: 
• Stop Targeting of Political Beliefs by the IRS Act legislation: 

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U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), who met with members of the Mississippi Rural Water Association yesterday, said rural development and conservation provisions enacted with the new farm bill are intended to help rural communities meet growing demands for water and wastewater services, while reducing the amount of time it takes for eligible entities to gain access to important programs.

Cochran, ranking member of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee, said the Agricultural Act of 2014 specifically addresses the ongoing need for water and wastewater improvements in rural states. Among other things, the law reauthorizes U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) rural water, wastewater facilities and waste disposal grant and loan programs, and provides $150 million in mandatory funds to help reduce a lengthy backlog of pending applications.

“Water and wastewater infrastructure is critical to promoting public health and economic growth. Rural communities frequently find that the repairs or upgrades needed to meet strict government standards are often unaffordable,” Cochran said. “The rural development provisions in the farm bill acknowledge this problem and offer tools to help overcome these challenges.”

In addition to making loan and grant funding available, the 2014 farm bill gives the Agriculture Secretary authority to utilize loan guarantees or direct loans for rural water and waste disposal infrastructure projects based on the material impact on rate payers.  Use of private or cooperative lenders is encouraged to finance projects.

The rural water and wastewater circuit rider program is continued, and the law authorizes a set percentage of funding for technical assistance programs to assist rural organizations in developing and operating systems more efficiently. The grassroots source water protection program, which assists communities in developing locally-driven plans to protect the ground and surface waters on which they rely, is extended with an additional $5.0 million in mandatory funds provided to address pending applications.

The new law also requires the USDA to develop a simplified application process for USDA agricultural and rural development lending programs.

“I am hopeful that utility providers in rural Mississippi, where there is a great need, will be able to use the farm bill to provide better water and wastewater services to those they serve,” said Cochran, who was among the principal negotiators on the final farm bill that recognizes an extensive backlog of pending applications for rural water and wastewater projects throughout the country.

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The probable transfer of 172 acres owned by the Tennessee Valley Authority at the Yellow Creek industrial site in Tishomingo County to the state of Mississippi creates another opportunity for major development at that prime location on the Tennessee River and the Tenn-Tom Waterway.

Since 1971, when TVA announced that it would build a nuclear power plant at the site, Tishomingo countians and people in Northeast Mississippi have waited for Yellow Creek’s ship to come in. So far, it has not.

After $1.2 billion in nuclear plant investment, that project was mothballed and abandoned.

That was followed by a planned advanced solid rocket motor (ASRM) for the space shuttle fleet, but after $1.5 billion invested, politics in Washington killed that project when it was 80 percent complete and the jobs it had brought in relocations by contractor employees from California.

Some smaller private-sector businesses are on the site, but it has not scored big as the home of large industries employing hundreds, if not thousands.

U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran’s and U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker’s efforts to win congressional transfer of 172 acres, if finalized, would lead to another state effort to bring major industry to the acreage. The Mississippi Development Authority would be given fuller sway in developing the site.

Companion legislation has been introduced in the U.S. House by Rep. Alan Nunnelee, R-Miss., and co-sponsored by the rest of the Mississippi delegation.

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee voted favorably Thursday on a bill proposed by Cochran and Wicker to transfer the site at the Yellow Creek Port in Iuka from TVA to the state. The bill has the backing of TVA, the Mississippi Development Authority, the Yellow Creek Port and the Tombigbee River Valley Water Management District; all those agencies have official relationships with Yellow Creek, the port, the river and the waterway.

The boundary lines of statehood gave Mississippi few miles of shoreline on the Tennessee River. It is heavily developed with permanent residences and vacation homes, but Mississippi has barely scratched the surface in commercial and industrial development compared to Tennessee, Alabama, and Kentucky.

The transfer of 172 valuable acres from the Tennessee Valley Authority provides another opportunity for Mississippi to increase shoreline assets with substantial employment and investment.

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On Feb. 4, the U.S. Senate joined the House of Representatives in a bi-partisan vote to approve re-authorization of the U.S. Farm Bill. Mississippi’s entire delegation — Congressmen Thompson, Harper, Nunnelee, and Palazzo, as well as Senators Cochran and Wicker — all supported the measure. As Ranking Member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, Senator Thad Cochran played a particularly central role in securing passage of the bill and in ensuring that it contains provisions to help farmers conserve our state’s natural resources.

The new Conservation Title of this bill is particularly important for Mississippi because of the opportunities it presents for farmers, especially those in the Mississippi Delta. It can also help to restore the health of the Gulf of Mexico.

For many years, the Conservation Title of the Farm Bill has provided voluntary incentives to help farmers, ranchers and forest land owners manage and protect our nation’s precious soil and water. In the Mississippi Delta, the new bill will allow continuation of a highly successful program to restore very wet and flood prone farmland to bottomland hardwood forests that reduce downstream flooding, provide fish and wildlife habitat and, over the long run, produce valuable hardwood lumber.

The bill will also assist landowners in managing water on their land in ways that aid crop production, reduce flooding and soil and nutrient runoff, and further expand wildlife areas, particularly for migratory waterfowl. These programs have waiting lists for participation because, in the way they are administered by the Natural Resource Conservation Service and the Soil and Water Conservation Districts, they provide financial incentives for farmers to stay on the land and help to ensure the long-term productivity of Mississippi agriculture.

Similarly, with respect to the Gulf, the Farm Bill’s Conservation Title will be used by farmers up the Mississippi River to employ new, more targeted measures to reduce the runoff of nutrients into the river which ultimately contribute to a “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico where most fish and shellfish species cannot survive. The same longstanding, cost-effective and voluntary programs that benefit farming in the Delta can be used in states like Iowa and Illinois, where the most nitrogen and phosphorous runoff originates. With passage of the bill, the Natural Resource Conservation Service will also be able to set aside special funding for other measures to improve the health of the Gulf by restoration of coastal rivers, streams and wetlands and for measures to reduce local runoff of pollutants.

The Farm Bill of 2014 is authorized for five years—so there is some assurance that conservation funding will be available over time. That will allow farmers and their communities to plan conservation well into the future. And all this is done in an overall bill that actually reduces federal spending over the five-year period.

My organization, The Nature Conservancy, works closely with farmers and land owners in Mississippi, and in the Mississippi River basin to our north, to maintain agricultural production while enhancing fish and wildlife habitat and reducing the hazard of flooding. These goals can all be achieved together, and the Conservation Title in the new Farm Bill can help us get there.

Thanks to Mississippi’s congressional delegation for their leadership in working to make this this important measure a reality.

Alex Littlejohn is associate state director of the Mississippi Chapter of The Nature Conservancy.

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