Source:  Rita Jane Gabbett, MEATINGPLACE.COM, 12/8/10

Rep. Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) has vowed to take a hard look at Environmental Protection Agency policies as he takes up his new role as chairman of the House Agriculture Committee when the new Congress begins in January.

The committee announced it named Lucas to succeed Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) as its chairman, reflecting the election change to a Republican majority in the House of Representatives.

“We will hold oversight hearings of the Environmental Protection Agency, which has demonstrated a fondness for overreaching regulations that defy congressional intent and threaten production agriculture and rural economies,” Lucas said in a statement.

Lucas takes over the committee as work begins on the next farm bill.

"I will work to make sure we write a market-oriented, fiscally responsible farm bill that will provide America's farmers and ranchers with the necessary tools and certainty they need to produce the safest, most affordable, most abundant food, fiber, feed and fuel supply in the history of the world," he said.

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