Rep. Frank Lucas (R-OK)

Every day the EPA seems to demonstrate how vastly disconnected it is to the folks who feed us.

With little oversight from the Democratic leadership that controls both the House and the Senate, Obama’s EPA has become an agency gone wild, creating regulations and policies that are burdensome, overreaching, and that negatively affect jobs and rural economies. The agency doesn’t seem to realize that rural America’s economy is dependant on agriculture.  A thriving agriculture sector breeds a healthy rural economy.  EPA’s in-your-face-approach to more government regulation has increased the cost of doing business for America’s farmers and ranchers.  If EPA is allowed to continue down this path, the only choice for many farmers and ranchers will be to stop farming altogether.

The threat of these regulations is so great that as co-chair of the Rural America Solutions Group, I will be hosting a forum today along with fellow co-chairmen Sam Graves and Doc Hastings to highlight just how out of touch the EPA is.

We have invited folks from across the country to Washington to discuss the impact these current and proposed regulations have on farmers, ranchers and small businesses.

The message we hope to send to the EPA is this:

All of us share the desire to protect our natural resources, but burdensome regulations that cost the livelihoods of those who feed us is not a policy path we can support.

Cross-posted at The Hill's Congress Blog.