WASHINGTON, July 16, 2020 – Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring participated in a roundtable on federal-state regulatory innovation and cutting red tape with other state and federal leaders in Washington today.
“The federal government is doing what they can to roll back regulations and assist Americans in driving the economy forward,” Goehring said. “Streamlining the regulatory process and putting commonsense rules and regulations in place to manage and mitigate projects makes more sense than cumbersome rules and regulations that do nothing but delay and harm our citizens and the economy.”
Goehring cited some examples of cumbersome rules affecting North Dakota:
- Before they were replaced, North Dakota had seen firsthand the impact of the complex Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rules and the impact on agriculture, energy and construction projects.
- Farm Service Agency (FSA) borrowers trying to start a dairy barn or animal ag facility ran into roadblocks due to the requirement of an environmental impact study costing hundreds of thousands of dollars and a delay of more than a year versus an environmental assessment accomplishing the same thing for less.
- National Environmental Policy Act requirements on prairie dog damage on federal lands that extended to private lands would have taken years and an environmental impact study instead of using commonsense solutions to control prairie dogs.
“I am thankful to President Trump for not only fulfilling his promise to cut two regulations for one but going beyond that and cutting seven and a half regulations for every new significant rule,” Goehring said. “When we’ve worked with the federal government, they’ve recognized flaws in the process, and we have been able to streamline regulations. We appreciate all of their diligent work on these issues.”