“We were too selfish and we were trying to make money. It didn’t work out.” – Dust Bowl Survivor quoted in Ken Burns’s documentary, The Dust Bowl

Wednesday night, I attended an early preview of Ken Burns’ documentary, The Dust Bowl, which will be airing on PBS November the 18th. Mr. Burns presented 6 clips from the film, followed by a panel discussion that also included Dust Bowl survivor Cal Crabill, National Geographic editor Peter Miller, and CBS news correspondent Jim Axelrod.

Click here to view the embedded video.

As a former student of soil science and the history of agriculture in America, I was more than passingly familiar with the story of the Dust Bowl as a cautionary tale of the consequences of the coincidence of human greed, government policy, and extreme climate conditions. As I know the story, a favorable market for crops, speculation from wealthy investors, and encouragement from the federal government led to a massive plow-up of land in the Midwest and Plains States during the 1930s. This was before modern soil conservation practices evolved, when people really believed that their activities would not harm the land.

“The soil is the one indestructible, immutable asset that the nation possesses.  It is one resource that cannot be exhausted, that cannot be used up.” – Federal Bureau of Soils, 1909

We now know the above quote is not true. It is possible for humans to cause incredible, and even irreversible damage to our natural resources. The soil is resilient, but it is not indestructible.

Watching the film brought the human dimension of the Dust Bowl and its aftermath to life in my mind. I can’t imagine what it was like for people to sit in the dark in their own homes, covering their faces with flour sacks or pieces of cloth to keep from breathing in the dirt as black clouds of dust raced by just outside their walls. I can’t imagine the aftermath of poverty, when people’s lives were destroyed and their sources of income depleted, so that mothers went to extreme measures to find lost dimes to feed their children.

Photo: Arthur Rothstein, 1936. Library of Congress. Farm family walks through a dust storm near Cimarron County, Oklahoma.

Right now, market conditions are encouraging farmers to plant fence row to fence row, breaking out new land in the Midwest and Plains and destroying what native grasslands remain. This past summer, one of the worst droughts in recent history created ideal conditions for dust storms. Indeed, yesterday, in Oklahoma, a dust storm caused “near blackout visibility” and a 30 car pile-up, resulting in injuries, damage to property, and the risk of human life.

It is crucial that our government policies do not encourage us to repeat past mistakes. That is why NWF has been fighting to get a national Sodsaver provision applied to the next Farm Bill. The Great Plains of the past that supported vast herds of buffalo and antelope are long gone, but our remaining grasslands are home to a wide array of wildlife, such as pheasants, prairie dogs, and songbirds. It is very important that we don’t lose what little grassland remains. We should remember the lessons of the Dust Bowl, and think not just about what could happen to wildlife, but also what could happen to human beings if we try to do too much on the land.

Let Congress know that you want a national Sodsaver provision in the next Farm Bill.  This is a small step we can take to make sure taxpayer dollars aren’t funding the same kind of activities that contributed to the Dust Bowl.

The black-tailed prairie dog is a species of conservation need in Texas. Photo Credit: Bureau of Land Management

What Happened

Wednesday, July 11th, the House Agriculture Committee sat for nearly 13 hours working through amendments to the Farm Bill. While the House bill maintained the same overall level of funding for conservation as the Senate’s version of the bill, it failed to protect grasslands across the country.

Sodsaver limits federal subsidies for native grasslands that are broken out for farming. Although the House bill includes a sodsaver provision, it only applies to the Prairie Pothole Region. While the Prairie Potholes are an extremely important and imperiled region, especially for migratory birds, native grasslands are important habitat nationwide. Reps. Timothy Walz (D-Minn.) and Kristi Noem (R-S.D.), along with Representative Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.), offered an amendment that would extend this provision to the entire nation, protecting prairies throughout the country. However, the sponsoring members were forced to withdraw the amendment before the Committee could vote, due to strong opposition from Lucas and Conaway, who wished to exempt Texas and Oklahoma from sodsaver.

I am troubled most by the following arguments from Conaway and Lucas: they didn’t seem to think conversion of grassland into farmland is a problem in their states, and they argued farmers have a right to subsidies without holding any responsibility to taxpayers.  Chairman Lucas stated, “for me in Oklahoma, and my friend in Texas, this is a private property issue.”

Why Sodsaver is not a Private Property Issue

To quote the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, “Wildlife in Oklahoma belongs to the people of Oklahoma even though 95 percent of Oklahoma is privately-owned.” In other words, private landowners have a responsibility to everyone when it comes to wildlife conservation.

Receiving federal funds is not a landowner’s right. My family owns farmland in Tennessee, and we don’t want anyone to tell us how we have to use it. But we also don’t expect the government to subsidize any initiative we undertake. Sodsaver does not take away the rights of landowners to convert grassland into cropland. It merely ensures that they do not receive taxpayer dollars for practices that harm the public. Yet Sodsaver ensures farmers are free to do whatever they wish with their land.

Why Texas and Oklahoma Grasslands Need Protection

Unbroken land is not in use because it is not the most productive cropland. Without federal incentives combined with high crop prices, it would not be put into use. However, when taxpayers subsidize the risk, landowners convert valuable wildlife habitat and rangeland into crops . According to the USDA, total cropland acreage increased across the US in 2012.  In Texas, cropland increased by about 1.6 million acres from 2011 to 2012 – the second highest increase of any state.

Texas and Oklahoma are both home to many grassland species. The Texas Parks & Wildlife has classified many grassland mammals, insects, birds, and plants as “species of greatest conservation need,” including the black-tailed prairie dog.

Oklahoma crop acreage also increased in 2012 by approximately 600,000 acres. A national sodsaver provision is critical for protecting the habitat of grassland wildlife such as the Lesser Prairie Chicken, which is in danger of being listed as an endangered species and is part of conservation efforts in Oklahoma.

Lesser Prairie Chicken. Photo Credit: Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation

What You Can Do

Let Congress know you want the best wildlife protections included in the House Farm Bill.

Lake Hefner at sunset. Fishers are drawn for the smallmouth bass, white bass and catfish. But mercury contamination remains an unresolved problem. Image from OK.Gov.

Oklahoma’s five coal-fueled power plants are spewing toxic mercury into the air, triggering warnings for Lake Hefner and 15 other state lakes. In July 2010, a study by the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality (OK DEQ) found 16 lakes in Oklahoma where some species of fish contain levels of mercury above what is considered safe. As a result, the state governmental agency published its statewide fish consumption advisories to protect Oklahomans from consuming too much mercury-laden fish caught by anglers from the state’s lakes.

Mercury from coal-fired power plants settles onto lakes and other waterways, entering the food chain and eventually ending up in fish and the people who consume them.  Mercury, arsenic and other toxic pollutants are subject to no national limit, leaving coal plants to spew as much as they want. It’s been shown to be especially harmful to children and pregnant mothers, where it adversely affects developing brains and can hinder a child’s ability to walk, talk, read and learn.

Progress is being made to clean up lakes like Hefner. More than 900,000 Americans have called on the Environmental Protection Agency to issue long overdue standards for reducing the pollution.  It’s expected to save lives and create jobs. But polluters are out to stop it.

Polluters have found a friend in Senator James Inhofe, Oklahoma’s senior senator.  He’s expected to demand a vote on a “Congressional Review Act resolution (CRA)” before June 21 to strike down the EPA’s mercury and air toxics standards for power plants as soon as today.  The CRA is a wrecking ball that would permanently prevent national standards for mercury and air toxics.

POLITICO has reported that Sen. Inhofe called the new standard “a killer.”  Really, Senator? Joe Mendelson, NWF climate and energy policy director says:

“Senator Inhofe has it backward on what the ‘killer’ is in this situation.  EPA and public health and environment groups all agree that the overdue mercury and air toxics standard will save as many as 11,000 lives, while reducing dangerous mercury exposure to children and pregnant mothers who consume fish laced with the toxic substance. EPA has also created a rule that will foster 46,000 construction jobs and 8,000 utility jobs as plants upgrade to cleaner technologies.

“Senator Inhofe may satisfy his polluter special interest friends by attacking these pollution safeguards, but his Oklahoma constituents and Americans will enjoy cleaner air, healthier water and wildlife, and fewer premature deaths. With these new standards, President Obama and the EPA have proved themselves champions for our health and environment, while Senator Inhofe makes clear he’s the polluter’s champ.”

Polluter Money

Why would Senator Inhofe put polluters ahead of cleaning up the lakes in his state?

Oklahoma is home to five coal-fired power plants that are the source of the pollution. One such power plant, the Northeastern Plant, is owned by American Electric Power (AEP). In 2010, a report benchmarking power plant air pollution (see page 34) found AEP power plants to be the largest collective source of mercury air pollution among all the nation’s largest utilities.

Between 1998 and 2011, AEP spent over $10M lobbying Congress, including plenty over the last year, to rollback air pollution standards like EPA’s new mercury and air toxic limits.  For his part, Senator Inhofe has received nearly half-million dollars from electric utility industries in campaign contributions (including some from AEP) during his career including a whopping $280K this election cycle.

Speak Out!

We can stop Senator Inhofe’s “killer” plan. Take action NOW! Tell Congress that it’s time to clean up mercury pollution in the lakes and waterways that threaten our children and wildlife.

Papaw with a nice string of Bass Eufala

My grandfather told me when I was very young that conservation was important and that it has a significant role in what makes us who we are. He used to say:

“Andy, conservation is the wise use of what God has given us.”

Some of the most important lessons I have ever learned were with my granddad walking behind bird dogs in the central plains, in the duck blind, or fishing the numerous farm ponds of my home state, Oklahoma. I learned a lot about patience, respect and integrity.

Uniting and Fighting for Conservation

I grew up in a much different Oklahoma in the eighties than my grandfather did during the depression. The Oklahoma of the 1930s was in pretty bad shape, the dust bowl and improper game management had taken its toll on wildlife throughout the state. My grandfather and people like him united and formed organizations to address the lack of game and non-game species in our state. They fought hard for responsible wildlife laws and re-introduction of species that were all but gone from our landscapes. Wildlife held a central place in his daily life and that love of wildlife was imparted to his children and grandchildren.

My son on a victorious day

My oldest son was married two years ago and his younger brother is engaged to be married later this year. I think about my grandchildren and what role I will play in teaching them to respect and be thankful for the opportunities we have to spend time with nature. I wonder if they will love to hunt and fish, or if they will enjoy watching wildlife, and as their grandfather what a big pair of shoes I will have to fill.

Sen. Jim Inhofe: Big Oil's MVP

When the city engineer refused to budge on Inhofe’s plan to move the fire escape on his mansion, it fueled his political ambitions.

“So I told him I was going to run for mayor and fire him,” he said. “And I ran for mayor and I fired him.”

Published by right-leaning WND Books, a division of WorldNetDaily, the book establishes Inhofe as an opponent of environmental regulations of all stripes long before 2003, when he famously told the Senate that climate change was “greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people.”

It’s odd to see Sen. Inhofe’s book published by such an extremist organization as WND Books, featured alongside such esteemed authors as … Jack Abramoff, whose book is part of his efforts to pay restitution to his victims.

But back to Sen. Inhofe. It’s a strange case to make and a completely upside down way to make it – like saying since you don’t like paying taxes to fund the fire department, you’re now on a crusade to prove fire doesn’t exist:

Joe Mendelson, director of global warming policy at the National Wildlife Federation, said Inhofe’s admission that he is against regulation in almost every instance suggests that he arrived at his scientific skepticism through something other than an impartial look at the facts.

“He sort of comes at it from ‘I am an anti-regulatory person, and therefore if there is something out there that may require a government response to address, I’m either going to ignore it or poke holes in the science so I don’t have to get the regulation,’” he said.

Mendelson also disagreed with Inhofe that environmental regulation threatens personal freedom.

“The impacts of the pollution actually do impede our freedom,” he said. “Our freedom to breath healthy air, our freedom to ensure that our family or our property is actually safeguarded from harm.”

Even though Sen. Inhofe delights in bashing high-profile climate activists, from Al Gore to Leonardo DiCaprio, he has another confession: Being a climate denier makes Sen. Inhofe a celebrity too, and he loves every minute of it:

“I was only in Copenhagen for three hours, but they were the most exhilarating three hours of my political life,” he writes. [...]

“I know it sounds strange to say it, but the experience was really quite enjoyable,” he writes. “I will always remember all those people in the room — hundreds of them — and all the cameras. And they all had one thing in common: they all hated me.”

Sen. Inhofe’s story reminded me of the Esquire Copenhagen profile of his former press secretary, Marc Morano, and how Morano’s fight for “freedom” finances his lavish lifestyle.