Tom Osborne Water Meetings
On Saturday, November 26, Tom Osborne conducted a series of 1 hour meetings about water. Meetings were held in York, Holdrege, McCook, and Imperial. Each meeting lasted about 1 hour. Congressman Osborne mentioned his voting record and stressed, "I'm as far from being a tree hugger as you can get." He also said, "My family has been involved in irrigation since the 1950's." His father was involved in the irrigation business in Hastings and his brother still is. "I'm not interested in doing anything to hurt irrigation in Nebraska," he added.
At each of the four meetings he talked about water and the 2007 Farm Bill. Regarding the farm bill, he predicts that the new bill will have a much greater emphasis on conservation. He believes that there will be less money for traditional farm supports and more money for farmers that use minimum tillage practices that limit erosion and run off.
He talked for about 30 minutes and then took questions for about 30 minutes. I have received reports from all four meetings, and the discussion was very similar from meeting to meeting. There was an emphasis on the Congressman's support for irrigation and how he would work to help the State via programs such as CREP, EQIP, the Farm Bill, and trying to renegotiate the Agreement that was made with Kansas on the Republican River.
Congressman Osborne made several significant statements regarding the Republican River Agreement. First, the agreement called for a conservation study to be done. He reports that this study has not been done and that Nebraska should not pay any large fines or shut off any wells until the study is done.
Second, he believes the conservation study has been intentionally delayed. He did not say who was delaying the study. He also pointed out that Kansas State has issued a report that shows that most of the stream flow depletion is caused by conservation practices, such as minimum tillage and terraces -- the very things that the Farm Bill encourages.
Third, he has asked for information from the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources, but the DNR has not provided the requested information.
Tom Osborne has decided that water is an issue, and he wants the people of Nebraska to know that he cares about water and wants to find solutions to the issue. He invites suggestions and ideas and believes it is important to open a dialog with Kansas and the people of the State.
Technorati: Tom Osborne, Republican River, Ogallala Aquifer,
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