According to the 2010 State of the Environment report from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, “In Iowa, most fine particle pollution forms in the atmosphere when ammonia (from animal feeding operations, fertilizer application and other natural sources) combines with sulfuric or nitric acid (from power plants, automobiles and other combustion sources) to create tiny particles.”

Expanding the amount of ammonia emitted in Scott County, which the additional capacity of Dittmer's hog lot would do, combined with the heavy industry already there would create additional fine particulate matter. It is a formula for trouble as it pertains to human health.

It works like this: ammonia from livestock operations is emitted into the atmosphere where it combines with sulfuric or nitric acid emitted from burning coal and creates fine particulate matter which gets into the lungs of people and causes significant health problems in the form of increased incidence of asthma, cardio-respiratory problems and increase morbidity and mortality.

Let's not talk about the fact that Davenport and neighboring Muscatine and Rock Island Counties were identified by the United States Environmental Agency as being in non-attainment for fine particulate matter. During the phase in of testing for fine particulate matter, Scott and Muscatine Counties were identified as being in non-attainment according to newly promulgated standards.

In 2007, Governor Culver wrote the Environmental Protection Agency and asked them to show the entire state of Iowa in attainment for fine particulate matter using the most current data. In other words, the Governor's request was to use different data regarding the monitoring for particulate matter and say the state was in attainment. There was a back and forth correspondence between the EPA and Director of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Richard Leopold, that resulted in the EPA rejecting Governor Culver's request, but defining the geography of non-attainment more narrowly.

The truth is that the air quality in Scott and Muscatine Counties is bad, there is an increased incidence of lung and heart problems because of it, and rather than jimmy around with the data, the state should just work to fix the problem.

What does “fixing the problem” mean? Iowa should immediately and as practicably as possible reduce our reliance on coal as a primary source of electricity. No new coal plant should be built until standards are developed for the DNR permitting process to reduce fine particulate, mercury and other emissions.

Secondly, Dittmer's hog lot and others like it should not be expanded until the relationship between the ammonia they produce and the emissions emitted from coal plants, automobiles, agricultural nitrogen and other sources are understood and better regulated.

Friends of mine who bicycled on RAGBRAI this year commented on how many concentrated animal feeding operations there were along this year's route. For those of us who are aware of where they are located, where the coal fired power plants are located and how air travels across the state, expansion of hog lot operations, especially in areas where the county is in non-attainment for air quality is an ill-advised proposition.

Blog for Iowa supports the efforts of those who seek to stop Dittmer's hog lot expansion.