Conference Call on Iowa Environment TODAY at 1:25pm CDT

Report: Health, Water Quality Risked by Iowa's Failure to Control Runaway Livestock Industry Waste Pollution

 

Thousands
of Unregulated Livestock Operations Found in Iowa; Millions of Gallons
of Manure Spilled & Over 2 Million Fish Killed



DES
MOINES, Iowa  — The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (IDNR)
is failing to protect human health from massive pollution from the
state's largely unregulated and highly concentrated livestock industry,
which is responsible for hundreds of manure spills each year, according
to a new report to be released today, May 19, 2004, by the nonprofit,
nonpartisan Environmental Integrity Project (EIP).


You can join this live, two-way telenews event
(with full Q&A): dial 1-800-860-2442 by 1:25 p.m. CDT TODAY, May 19, 2004. News event speakers will be:



    *  Michele Merkel, senior counsel, Environmental Integrity Project;



    *  Susan Heathcote, research director, Iowa Environmental Council;



    *  Lee Little, county supervisor, Taylor County; and



    *  Sharlene Merk, family farmer and Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement member.



BACKGROUND:
The EIP report, entitled “Threatening Iowa's Future,” shows that the
Iowa Department of Natural Resources is failing to properly regulate
livestock operations under the federal Clean Water Act to protect the
state's waters from animal feeding operations (AFOs), which can confine
tens or even hundreds of thousands of animals at a single site in the
state. AFOs produce vast quantities of waste — an estimated 500
million tons of manure annually in the U.S. or three times more waste
than is generated by the nation's population each year. Animal waste
produced by AFOs typically is stored on-site in earthen lagoons or
cesspools and is periodically spread in liquid form on cropland. These
operations often contribute to water quality impairment in the nation's
rivers and lakes when manure spills occur from storage structures or
when too much waste is applied on too little land.



CAN'T
PARTICIPATE?: A live, streaming audio replay of the phone-based news
event will be available on the Web by 6 p.m. CDT on May 19, 2004 at
http://www.environmentalintegrity.org/.

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The Environmental Integrity Project is a nonpartisan, nonprofit
organization established in March of 2002 to advocate for more
effective enforcement of environmental laws.