WASHINGTON, D.C. — The United States Department of Agriculture, USDA, is investing $1.2 billion to help rebuild and improve rural water infrastructure for 936,000 rural Americans living in 46 states.
“Under the leadership of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, USDA is committed to being a strong partner to rural communities in building prosperity through modern water infrastructure.” “Investing in infrastructure benefits the rural economy and the well-being of our environment for future generations to enjoy,” Denise Lovelady, USDA Rural Development State Director for Maryland and Delaware, said.
“Rural Development’s programs are designed to help rural communities address their infrastructure needs and forge a path towards greater prosperity.” USDA is providing financing for 234 water and environmental infrastructure projects through the Water and Waste Disposal Loan and Grant program.
Below are some examples of the investments USDA is making in Maryland: • Queenstown is receiving a $1,828,000 loan and $1,358,000 grant to make improvements to its water system.
The existing water tower will be replaced, the disinfection system will be upgraded, and a new well and treatment facility will be built.
• The Town of Oxford will use a $493,000 loan and $1,735,000 grant to cover additional costs related to upgrading its wastewater treatment plant.
• The Somerset County Sanitary District Inc. will receive a $83,000 loan and $2,970,000 grant to construct a wastewater treatment plant for the Smith Island communities of Ewell, Rhodes Point and Tylerton.
Additional funding for this project includes an existing $30,000 USDA SEARCH Grant, a $6,117,341 investment from the State of Maryland, and an applicant contribution of $61,941.
• Worcester County will use a $170,000 loan and $80,000 grant to cover a cost over-run to construct a pipeline from the recently upgraded Mystic Harbor wastewater treatment facility.
Increasing investments in rural infrastructure is a key recommendation of the task force.

In a story Dec. 18 about an EPA water regulation rollback, The Associated Press erroneously attributed a quote to Environmental Protection Agency acting administrator Andrew Wheeler.
It should have been attributed to American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall.
A corrected version of the story is below: Farmers urged to support Trump rollback of water rules The Trump administration is calling on farmers to throw their support behind a proposal to withdraw federal protections for many of the country’s waterways and wetlands $20 for 365 Days of Unlimited Digital Access Last chance to take advantage of our best offer of the year!
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"When Obama-EPA put forward these definitions, they claimed it was in the interest of water quality.
"We are here today to tell you that we’re putting an end of that power grab."
Environmental groups have warned the proposed overhaul will be a grave assault on the aims of the 1972 Clean Water Act, the foundational U.S. water protection law.
The Trump administration would remove federal protections for wetlands nationally unless they are connected to another federally protected waterway.
The Clean Water Act bans polluting any "water of the United States" without a permit.
Others counter the protections are an obstacle to farmers and businesspeople — adding that the current state of regulations has caused confusion for land owners, particularly when it came to permit requirements for protecting those federally protected waterways.

The designation also applies to contiguous counties Adams, Gem and Payette in Idaho, and Baker and Malheur in Oregon.
The emergency loans can be used to fund various recovery efforts including replacing essential items such as equipment or livestock, reorganizing a farming operation or refinancing debts.
FSA will review applications based on the extent of losses, loan security the applicant has available, and repayment ability, the agency said in a news release.
FSA Idaho spokeswoman Polly Hoyt said the declaration was based on a U.S. Drought Monitor result of D2 (severe) for eight straight weeks.
It was not based on fire incidence, she said.
Other Drought Monitor classifications include D0 for abnormally dry, D1 for moderate, and D3 and D4 for extreme and exceptional, respectively.
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U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue designated 12 Missouri counties as primary natural disaster areas due to drought.
Producers in Audrain, Barry, Barton, Boone, Callaway, Cooper, Dade, Jasper, Lawrence, Moniteau, Monroe and Newton counties who suffered losses due to recent drought may be eligible for U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) emergency loans.
Additionally, agricultural producers in counties contiguous to the 12 disaster area counties are also eligible for emergency loans.
This includes farmers in Christian County.
As of Aug. 28, the U.S. Drought monitor indicated that all of Christian County is in a case of “Severe Drought,” a drought status that has crept from west to east across the county map through the month of August.
This designation by Perdue allows the Farm Service Agency to extend emergency credit to producers recovering from natural disasters.
Emergency loans can be used to meet various recovery needs including replacing essential items such as equipment or livestock, reorganizing a farming operation or refinance certain debts.

USDA opens up CRP in Montana, Dakotas due to drought.
Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue is bringing some relief to drought-stricken Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota by authorizing emergency grazing on Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) lands.
All or parts of these states are experiencing severe or extreme drought conditions – indicated as categories D2 and D3 on the U.S. Drought Monitor.
“Due to reduced availability of forage, ranchers in the hardest hit locations have already been culling their herds,” said Perdue.
“Without alternative forage options like grazing CRP lands, livestock producers are faced with the economically devastating potential of herd liquidation.” CRP is a voluntary program administered by USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) available to agricultural producers to help them safeguard environmentally sensitive land and, when needed, provide emergency relief to livestock producers suffering the impacts of certain natural disasters.
Emergency grazing is authorized to begin immediately and extends through Sept. 30, unless conditions improve.
Producers must work with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to develop a modified conservation plan that is site specific, including the authorized grazing duration to reflect local wildlife needs.
FSA State Committees will monitor emergency grazing implementation at the local level to mitigate adverse impact on nesting areas and established CRP vegetation.
“If opening up grazing lands reduces even some of these stressors for these ranchers, then it’s the right thing for us to do.” Eligible CRP participants can use the acreage for grazing their own livestock or may grant another livestock producer use of the CRP acreage.
There will be no CRP annual rental payment reductions assessed for acres grazed.

Drought worsens in Bismarck, Mandan areas.
Nearly 8 percent of the state, including Bismarck and Mandan, is seeing worsening conditions as the U.S. Drought Monitor’s rating of the area moved today from severe to extreme drought.
On Wednesday, the North Dakota Farmers Union urged U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue to open Conservation Reserve Program acres for emergency haying and grazing due to widespread drought.
“Feed supplies are deteriorating fast, hay is in short supply due to last year’s harsh winter, and ranchers are facing the difficult decision of whether to downsize their herd.
It is an emergency situation.” The United States Drought Monitor places all of North Dakota in at least abnormally dry conditions.
Parts of Southwest North Dakota also are experiencing extreme drought conditions along with portions of Divide and Williams counties in the northwest corner of the state.
On Saturday, Bismarck received .4 inches of rain, according to Weather Underground records.
“It’s going to be cool and breezy this weekend … borderline unpleasant to those accustomed to the hot weather we typically see this time of the year," he said.
“This roundtable is an opportunity for producers, ag groups and agencies to discuss the current drought situation in North Dakota and the options available to producers,” Goehring said.
“Topics will include the status of the drought, forage quality and livestock management strategies, crop insurance forage options and the Farm Service Agency process to access Conservation Reserve Program acres for emergency haying and grazing.” Kevin Sedivic, rangeland specialist for North Dakota State University Extension Carl Dahlen, animal scientist for NDSU Extension Shad Weber, senior risk management specialist for the United States Department of Agriculture Brad Olson, manager of the North Dakota Farm Service Agency Conservation Program

President Trump, ethanol is bad for your voters.
"And we’re going to work for new technologies to be more efficient."
Perdue made the announcement flanked by two Republican Iowa lawmakers, wearing a pin that could take the award for best or most obscure special-interest lobbying swag.
It read, "Don’t mess with the RFS," referring to the federal requirement that the nation’s gasoline supply be diluted with massive amounts of ethanol — 19.3 billion gallons of the stuff annually.
In 2007, as governor of Georgia, he dumped $6 million into a company that claimed it could economically produce the fuel from wood chips.
The company quickly consumed the taxpayers’ funds and went out of business in 2011.
Despite his support for the ethanol lobby on the campaign trail, Trump had shown at least a few signs that he might be willing to derail the ethanol gravy train.
He chose an EPA administrator who had previously sued the EPA over the ethanol mandate.
Its mass production (40 percent of all corn grown in the U.S. is for ethanol) causes more water pollution and increases carbon emissions.
Last year’s election should have demonstrated that the ethanol industry is a paper tiger.

March Policy Round-Up: 5 Important Stories You May Have Missed.
Sonny Perdue, Donald Trump’s nominee to head the USDA (the only cabinet-level position yet to be filled), is moving through the confirmation process at a snail’s pace; he finally last week appeared before the Senate Agriculture Committee for his first hearing.
The EPA is slated for the largest cut of any agency—a whopping 31 %—which would be achieved by completely eliminating 50 programs.
Though he was known for a few ethical lapses while governor of Georgia, which have been heavily publicized in recent weeks prior to the hearing, these didn’t even come up at the hearing.
Apparently, Perdue spent much of February and March taking steps to disentangle himself from his numerous agribusiness interests at the request of the Office of Government Ethics, which is why his hearing was delayed.
The budget proposes a 50 percent cut across the board to “discretionary funding”—essentially the money each branch of the USDA has available to spend as it sees fit to fulfill its mission—including programs related to food safety, rural development and conservation funding, research grants and international food aid.
Or so bee activists thought.
The decision, made in the twilight days of the Obama administration, was hailed by environmentalists as a major step forward in fighting the epidemic loss of pollinators nationwide, because once a species is listed as endangered the federal government is compelled to take measures to protect it—which could have far-reaching implications on matters such as pesticide regulations.
The rusty patched bumblebee, a significant pollinator of agricultural crops, was scheduled to officially join the ranks of the endangered species list on February 10th.
Food Safety Groups Band Together Against “Filthy Food Act” Republicans have long dreamed of a way to avert new government regulations that they see as a threat to the free reign of business interests.

For North Carolinians who were living here in 2007, you might remember that year’s drought — worse than 2002, even worse than 1925, which in a more innocent time, was considered the very worst of the worst.
By October of that year, 37 percent of the state was classified as being in exceptional drought.
Now some of those same areas — among them, Lenoir, Duplin Greene and Cumberland counties — have been designated as “abnormally dry.” (Geek alert: Last week, North Carolina’s drought map and the national map differed somewhat because the state’s version measures impacts — such as dwindling public water supplies.
Public water supplies are haven’t been affected, although reservoirs that are part of Duke Energy’s Catawba-Wateree Project in western North Carolina are operating under special drought protocols.
On average, whatever that is, the last spring frost in central North Carolina occurs in early to mid-April.
Ozone season also starts earlier, under the EPA’s new standards for the pollutant.
The new EPA standard for ozone is 70 parts per billion, and “we’re right at that in Charlotte.” The entire state currently meets the ozone standard.
However, from 2004-2013, Charlotte failed to meet the federal requirements; as a result, the city and state had to implement rules to reduce those levels.
And less nitrogen oxide means less ozone.
And a summer that’s less of a bummer.