Excerpt
VIRTUALLY no local programs to regulate soil erosion on agricultural land have been established although permissive state-enabling legislation has been available since the 1930s. In fact, only a few states have responded to severe erosion problems and the encouragement offered by the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to regulate pollution arising from nonpoint sources on agricultural land. This situation may have to change if the most critical soil erosion problems are to be dealt with effectively.
The track record
Use of state regulatory powers to deal with agricultural erosion problems is a recent phenomenon. The first significant state regulatory program was begun by Iowa in 1971. Of the 10 local programs known to be operating currently, one was established in 1974, two in 1977, two in 1982, and five in 1983 or 1984.
Perhaps more important than the number of programs is the fact that enactment of public regulatory programs to control soil loss on farmland is not always followed by effective implementation and enforcement. Just why does not involve legal questions so much as administrative and political ones. Illustrative of the situation are experiences in Iowa; Pennsylvania; South Dakota; Fillmore County, Minnesota; Lewis and Clark County, Montana; the …
Footnotes
Robert E. Coughlin is senior fellow with the Department of City and Regional Planning, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 19104, and a partner in the firm of Coughlin, Keene, and Associates. This article is based on research undertaken for the American Farmland Trust. It is reported on more fully in Regulatory Approaches by State and Local Governments for Reducing Erosion of Agricultural Land, a Planning Advisory Service report from the American Planning Association.
- Copyright 1985 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
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