We keep hearing from the Governor’s office that New
York State is open for business. While that might be true for large
corporations for which the state sees fit to give millions of our dollars for
them to come here, that misleading marketing campaign glosses over the fact
that the Cuomo Administration and legislature have continued to make the Empire
State one of the least attractive places in which to start a small business or
grow an existing one due to costs and regulations.
Just look at what has been introduced to the New
York economy over the past two years: a quantum leap in minimum wage rates was
passed; an expansive paid family leave program was introduced; and some onerous
employee scheduling standards have been proposed.
Those are just a few of the big items.
But, you can’t overlook the small things, too.
When the government get its hands in the minutiae
of running a business you can’t help but laugh at the zealousness of their over-involvement,
but it quickly turns out to be not-so-funny when you consider the ramifications
of that overregulation.
A perfect example is the latest set of rules put upon
farmers.
Take a drive across rural Niagara County and you
will see countless old tractor and truck tires in use at farms holding down
covers and tarpaulins that are protecting hay, straw, salt, and other feeds from
the elements. If it weren’t for those tires, the tarps would blow over or away
and the feedstock would be soaked by rain or snow.
Those tires are harmless enough, right?
Not so to the Department of Environmental
Conservation. To their policymakers, those tires are evil.
The DEC believes that such tires are breeding grounds
for mosquitos and, in turn, viruses like West Nile. So, in their eyes, their
use needs to be regulated. This fall, the agency introduced almost unbelievable
standards to do just that.
The new rules mandate that only 0.25 passenger tire
equivalents be used per square foot of cover area. But, farmers aren’t in most
cases using tires from passenger cars to keep their tarps down. They are using much
larger tires that expired through use on the farm. So, they have to crunch numbers
and convert, mathematically, their truck and tractor tires into passenger
tires. Under the DEC standards, a passenger tire equivalent is a tire with a
rim of 17 inches or less.
As if trying to be a calculus major to manage your
feedlot isn’t bad enough, none of those tires are allowed to be whole. In all
cases, the DEC says they have to be either cut in half or have holes drilled
through them.
That’s not an easy – or safe – undertaking.
Most tires in use as tarp weights are radial-ply,
meaning there are wires in both the tread and side walls. It’s a very difficult
task for farm laborers to have to mangle such tires and once they do, it puts
the cattle – the feed of which they are trying to protect – at serious risk. If
metal breaks free from the tires, which is likely, it could get into the fodder
underneath the cover. If a dairy cow consumes that metal in even the smallest
amounts, it will create life-threatening consequences from torn innards to
choking to infection. Many cows will die because of these new rules now that the
metals inside the tires are becoming what is a mandated exposure.
The new standards go into effect May 2 of 2018. Farms
have less than a half-year to be ready for DEC inspections and fines if they
don’t comply. But compliance isn’t easy. Do they find alternative methods – if so
what and then what becomes of the old tires they accumulate? Or, do they cut
and drill tires hoping a worker isn’t hurt in the process or that a cow is
killed by accidentally ingesting metal afterwards?
Never mind that the Empire State has 2.4 million
acres of wetlands in which the mosquitoes behind these rules are born; it’s
those silly old tires that are the threat to public safety in the eyes of the
Cuomo Administration.
Regulations like this show that New York State isn’t
open for business -- it’s closed.
From the 25
December 2017 Greater Niagara Newspapers
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