Congressman Jason Smith Calls for Elimination of Environmental Protection Agency

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Thursday, Congressman Jason Smith called for elimination of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a federal agency that accidentally dumped three million gallons of toxic waste into a river system in Colorado earlier this month.

The call came during a Missouri Farm Bureau press conference at the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia.

“The EPA spill is just one more in a long list of examples that show this federal agency cannot be trusted,” Smith said afterward. “Environmental policy should be left to the states. Folks in Missouri know how to take care of our land, water, and air better than any unelected bureaucrat in Washington.”

Smith is the fourth-generation owner of his family’s farm has seen first-hand how the EPA’s overreach hurts folks in the heartland. He called it “a war on rural America.”

“This agency is supposed to protect the environment, but all it seems to do is protect radical environmentalists and make life more difficult for Missourians. It’s outrageous,” he continued.

Smith has been critical of the EPA’s proposed Waters of the United States rule that attempts to assert more federal authority over private land. He has also spoken out against the EPA’s proposed Clean Power Plan which would drive up energy costs for rural America by demanding a massive reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.

The stop at Missouri’s State Fair coincided with Smith’s 3rd Annual Farm Tour, which includes stops to all 30 counties in the Eighth Congressional District. Smith said that conversations with the farmers and ranchers who are so critical to keeping America’s rural economy moving are instrumental in advocating for his agriculture-rich district back in Washington. 

“Over and over they tell me that regulations from unelected bureaucrats are hurting Missouri farm families and threatening their livelihoods.  It’s time to let Missourians decide what’s best.”

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