The Environmental Protection Agency has been accused of violating the privacy of cattle farmers in Nebraska and Iowa by using drones to spy on them. Last week, Nebraska’s congressional delegation submitted a joint letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson expressing concerns about the surveillance and questioning its legality. The EPA responded that the use of drones is legal and cost-effective.
The surveillance has so far covered Region 7 (Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and
Missouri), but has focused on Nebraska and Iowa because of the high
concentration of livestock feeding operations in a watershed that has a
history of contamination. “Nebraskans are rightfully skeptical of an agency which continues to
unilaterally insert itself into the affairs of rural America,” The agency said that “courts,
including the Supreme Court, have found similar types of flights to be
legal (for example to take aerial photographs of a chemical
manufacturing facility)” and that the EPA “would use such flights in
appropriate instances to protect people and the environment from
violations of the Clean Water Act”. So far, seven flights have taken place over Iowa, and nine over Nebraska. Yahoo / MadOne
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