And the Regulatory State Drones On

Forget the kerfuffle over EPA drone flights; nobody pays attention to the things that the EPA is doing that are truly frightening.

Bovines of Nebraska, take cover; Big Brother is watching! The Environmental Protection Agency has been doing aerial reconnaissance flights looking for cows disrespecting U.S. waters—cows not being known for their personal hygiene, and Nebraskans often raising cows in large groups (of cows, not Nebraskans).
This has kicked off the type of political firestorm that makes our politics so predictable, not to mention frustrating. Farmers, understandably, were not happy when “flyover country” included Big Brother flying over their homes and farms with cameras. Politicians expressed shock and dismay, but the EPA has had little to say. The EPA has admitted to the flights, but point out that they didn’t do very many and that it is much more efficient to fly than to drive over a place as big as Nebraska. Budgets are tight; it is very expensive for government agents to drive around Nebraska looking for errant cow pies.
Feedlots have to secure permits from state regulatory agencies, as required by the EPA, with the understanding that there will be no discharge into U.S. waters. That is a reasonable requirement and in the farmer's best interest as well, since the waste from a livestock operation is not waste at all, but a valuable resource that the farmer recycles to grow crops.
Most farmers manage this part of their livestock operations with care and have little worry about reasonable oversight from state and federal agencies. Having said all that, it is a little creepy to have people flying over your home to see what you are doing. It's a mistake for the EPA to enforce those permits with such flights. Even though the surveillance is presumably legal, it’s distasteful and should end. Technology has changed our expectation of privacy, but there are some technologies that ought not be used to enforce environmental laws.

Read more: http://www.american.com/archive/2012/july/and-the-regulatory-state-drones-on