The N2 Dilemma: Is America Fertilizing Disaster? A Grist Special Series , 'The Soil is Bleeding' By Tom Philpott 23 Feb 2010 9:47 AM, www.grist.orgNew research: synthetic nitrogen destroys soil carbon, undermines soil health “Fertilizer is good for the father and bad for the sons. —Dutch saying For all of its ecological baggage, synthetic nitrogen [...]
Land conservation signup is set By PERRY BEEMAN , pbeeman@dmreg.com February 28, 2010 , Des Moines registerThe news drew a standing ovation at the National Pheasant Fest luncheon at the Polk County Convention Complex because the added land could mean more habitat, better hunting, cleaner streams, and fuller cash registers around Iowa. The Conservation Reserve [...]
Dead pigs used to investigate 'dead zones' By Victoria Gill Mar 4, 2010, Science reporter, BBC News Crabs and other scavengers put nutrients back into the marine ecosystem By ending up in ocean experiments (rather than on the dinner table), the pigs have provided scientists with some intriguing new data. "The dead pigs were [...]
World's Largest Dead Zone Suffocating Sea By James Owen in StockholmMarch 5, 2010, National Geographic News Algae blooms (seen in a July 2005 satellite image) have created the world's largest dead zone in the Baltic Sea. Image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, NASA "Eagle!" The shout goes up as a great shadow sweeps over our boat. The [...]
Manure becomes pollutant as its volume grows unmanageable By David A. Fahrenthold, Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, March 1, 2010 UNFINISHED BUSINESS: THE ENVIRONMENT 40 YEARS AFTER EARTH DAY: Rising with a bullet among top pollutants: Number Two Full of manure Nearly 40 years after the first Earth Day, this is irony: The United States [...]
Rulings Restrict Clean Water Act, Foiling E.P.A. By CHARLES DUHIGG and JANET ROBERTSFebruary 28, 2010, New York Times, David Walter Banks for The New York Times Thousands of the nation’s largest water polluters are outside the Clean Water Act’s reach because the Supreme Court has left uncertain which waterways are protected by that law, according [...]
Dumping on manure, chemical fertilizerMarch 1, 2010; Baltimore sunAccording to a story today in the Washington Post, the waste generated by farms raising cattle, hogs, chickens and turkeys is getting into the water (and air) in increasing quantities, even as environmental laws are cracking down on other pollutants. Farm animal manure (like the chicken manure being cleaned out of [...]
Governor Culver's office publicly opposes "Manure in Water" bill -- HF 2324 By Natalie Snyders, 515-282-0484, natalie@iowacci.org; Kristin Schaaf, 515-255-0800, kristin@iowacci.org 2/23/2010; Iowa CCIMONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2010, DES MOINES, IOWA -- Governor Culver's chief of staff and top political advisor Jim Larew told more than 100 members of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (Iowa CCI) [...]
EPA Budget Signals Good News for the Mississippi RiverFebruary 2010 : River Currents Newsletter Call me a cock-eyed optimist, but the news this month that the Environmental Protection Agency had allocated nearly 46 percent of its budget for clean and safe water made me feel better about the Mississippi River's future. $17 million of the [...]
Guest column: Farm drainage proposal based on sound science By BILL NORTHEY: agri@IowaAgriculture.gov; WENDY WINTERSTEEN: wwinters@iastate.edu February 26, 2010 ; Des MOINES REGISTER To provide a little background, north-central Iowa has a significant amount of tile drainage, which is a system of pipes running underneath farm fields that drain standing water from the field and [...]