Report: Iowa Failing to Enforce Clean Water Act for Livestock Operations, Risking Public Health and State Waters
Environmental Integrity Project, Washington D.C.
DES
MOINES, Iowa — The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) lacks
the authority and resources to properly regulate the states' livestock
operations under the federal Clean Water Act, according to a new report
released today by the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP), a
nonpartisan nonprofit group. As a result, the health of Iowa's citizens
and its natural resources (including water quality) are threatened.
The EIP
report, entitled “Threatening Iowa's Future: Iowa's Failure to
Implement and Enforce the Clean Water Act for Livestock Operations,”
finds that Iowa has failed to regulate thousands of major livestock
operations, despite federal laws clearly requiring the state to do so.
The largest of these facilities confine more than five million
chickens, 24,000 swine, or 10,000 cattle on a single site and generate
millions of gallons of waste.
(much, much more)
Iowa leads nation in biotech legislation
Waterloo/Cedar Fall Courier
Iowa
passed more agricultural biotechnology legislation in 2003 than any
other U.S. state, according to a study released Monday. The Pew
Initiative on Food and Biotechnology, a nonpartisan research group,
reported 16 biotechnology-related bills were introduced in the Iowa
General Assembly last year. The state legislature passed four of the
measures into law. . . .
According
to Rodemeyer, Iowans are researching possible nonfood uses for crops
such as corn and soybeans. Scientists also are studying how genetically
modified food might be developed to produce pharmaceuticals or
biodiesel fuel. Such findings could attract a host of large outside
corporations and prove lucrative for the state economy, he said.
Ferd
Hoefner of the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition said biotechnology is
a controversial topic because supporters and opponents recognize the
environmental risks in developing genetically modified food. He said
his group opposes certain crops designed to boost individual corporate
sales, such as plants that are “vaccinated” against a particular brand
of pesticide.
(more)
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