By Andrew Lersten
U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, promised a group of blueberry growers Friday he'll fight proposed new federal regulations that he said could hurt the farmers.
Upton visited Moon Lake Farm near Grand Junction in Van Buren County at the request of the Michigan Farm Bureau, which is organizing political resistance from the growers.
The proposed Environmental Protection Agency regulations would expand permitting rules for farmers and consider some farmland - such as blueberry farms - as wetlands.
"In no uncertain terms, what we're looking at here is a gross overreach by the EPA," said Laura Campbell, who manages the Farm Bureau's agricultural ecology department.
"What that would mean for farmers is that they'd have to jump through a lot more hoops and wrestle through a forest of red tape to obtain federal permits to carry out some of their most routine activities," Campbell said.
The EPA is gathering public comments on the wetlands protection proposal until July 31.
Upton spoke to about 30 people, mostly blueberry growers, at the farm and vowed to kill the proposal.
"You already have to deal with things like the weather. The last thing you need is a government bureaucrat putting you out of business. We can't allow this to go forward. It's nutty. I'm with you 100 percent."
Upton said he believes there will be bipartisan opposition from Michigan's federal legislators to the proposed regulations.