Many Federal Regulations enacted at the national level are carried out in each state by the responsible agency ; some examples are ; your respective state DOT carries out federal DOT highway requirements for roads, bridges, etc., construction and maintenance ; the federal DE (Dept of Education) enacts education requirements and your respective state DE sees that they're applied in your public schools, etc, etc.
The EPA, as well as Congress, develop policies, guidelines and requirements for many environmental areas, Clean Water, Clean Air.....are two examples.
Here in WI, the federal (and state) policies are typically instituted by WDNR amd DATCP (Dept of Ag, Trade and Consumer Protection) and primarily enforced by WIDNR (because DNR has legislative authority and DATCP typically does not.
In Minnesota, the state enforcement agency for soil & water, air, etc is MPCA (MN Pollution Control Agency).
Ok, so there is oversight, however there's several things that influence how well (or not) our natural resources are managed and protected ; politics and consistent funding, as you all know, both can and do change intermittently.
Anyway.......it's not as easy and straight up as one might think. I worked 32 years as a Soil and Water Conservationist for USDA. I started with SCS (Soil Conservation Service, now known as NRCS [Natural Resources Conservation Service]) in 1979. I have a pretty good idea how the Feds (and some state agencies) work, and so I always have concerns....
Regards, Vic
Last edited by TraderVic; 04/18/26 03:16 PM.
