The Agricultural Retailers Association (ARA) presented their 2011 Legislator of the Year Award to Rep. Bob Gibbs (R-OH). This award is given annually to a member, or members, of Congress who work closely with the ARA in helping to champion legislation important to the agricultural retail industry.
Rep. Gibbs serves on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and the House Agriculture Committee. He also chairs a Transportation Subcommittee on Water Resources and the Environment. As chair of this committee, Rep. Gibbs helped lead the legislative effort to block the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from issuing National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Clean Water Act permits for aquatic pesticide use by holding a joint-oversight hearing and introducing legislation to fix the problem. In addition, Rep. Gibbs sponsored the Clean Water Cooperative Federalism Act of 2011, which restricts the EPA’s ability to second-guess or delay a state’s permitting and water quality certification decisions under the Clean Water Act once the EPA has already approved a state’s program. In the area of transportation issues, Rep. Gibbs also held hearings to bring attention to challenges affecting the country’s inland waterways that are used to move bulk commodities.
“It is a true honor and a privilege to accept the Legislator of the Year Award from the Agricultural Retailers Association. As Chairman of the Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee and a member of the Agriculture Committee, I have fought the bureaucratic overreach of the U.S. EPA and worked to create a better environment for our farmers and those who supply them with the materials they need,” Rep. Gibbs said. “I am, and will continue to be, dedicated to promoting our agriculture retail and distribution industry nationwide.”
Additional photos from the ARA Board Meeting and presentation of the Legislator of the Year Awards are available on the ARA’s Facebook page. For more information on current legislative and regulatory issues impacting agricultural retailers, visit www.aradc.org.