A Seattle lobbying firm was poised to tap social media to rally grass-roots support for new restrictions on Washington farmers when the Environmental Protection Agency pulled back its support of the advocacy campaign, according to newly released EPA records.
The records, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, also disclose that the EPA purportedly spent $655,529 over five years on What’s Upstream, a bid by the Swinomish Indian tribe and several environmental groups to impose mandatory 100-foot buffers between farm fields and waterways.
The EPA disowned the campaign in April after some federal lawmakers condemned its tone and purpose.
Most of the EPA money went to Strategies 360, which was hired by the tribe with a federal grant originally awarded to the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission.
The firm crafted a media campaign beginning in 2011. In late March, it recommended posting a petition on change.org to obtain contact information of people likely to support mandatory buffers.
The firm pitched the idea just as federal lawmakers took note of What’s Upstream. At the urging of U.S. Sens. Pat Roberts of Kansas and Jim Infohe of Oklahoma, the EPA’s Office of Inspector General is looking into whether the tribe or fisheries commission misused federal funds to lobby.
The newly released records, mostly emails between the EPA and the fisheries commission, show EPA officials were concerned that What’s Upstream was too focused on agriculture and regulations, rather than taking a broader view of pollution sources in Puget Sound and the possibility of voluntary actions.
The EPA, however, didn’t stop What’s Upstream from posting a “take action” link on its website. The link facilitated sending form letters to state legislators urging them to mandate 100-foot buffers.
In a March 23 email exchange with a fisheries commission official, Strategies 360 Senior Vice President Matt Davidson outlined a plan to direct more people to the website via change.org, which promotes itself as, “The world’s platform for change.”
The site alerts past petition signers to new petitions for similar causes.
“If they do support us, we’ll get access to their contact information,” Davidson wrote. “We can then use this list to message our supporters through social media to go to the What’s Upstream website to contact their legislators.”
Source: www.capitalpress.com