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 [...]
Iowa CCI: Governor Culver's office publicly opposes "Manure in Water" bill -- HF 2324 By IowaPolitics.com, Natalie Snyders, 515-282-0484, natalie@iowacci.org Kristin Schaaf, 515-255-0800, kristin@iowacci.org 2/23/2010MONDAY, 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 [...]
Nasty, nurturing nitrogen By Holly MoellerFebruary 23, 2010MIT The Tech When Captain N.C. Middlebrooks claimed the Brook Islands for the United States in 1859, he had no idea they would later be known as Midway Atoll, site of a World War II turning point more than eighty years later. The island cluster was coveted for [...]
Series Intro Where does our food come from?These days, most people might think corn, the ubiquitous grain that provides the bulk of feed for our livestock; most of the sweetener for our soft drinks and snacks; and a large amount of our cooking fat. But where does the corn—and other staple crops—come from? The answer [...]
Guest column: Don't rush redesign of farmland drainage By DES MOINS REGISTERFebruary 17, 2010MICHAEL BURKART is a hydrologist in Ames. Contact: burkartj15@ hotmail.com. • WILLIAM STOWE is D.M. public works director. Contact: wgstowe@dmgov.org. Last November, the Iowa Water Resources Coordinating Council (WRCC) submitted flood plain management policy recommendations to Gov. Chet Culver and state legislators. The [...]
Follow the countys lead By EditorialTuesday, Feb. 16, 2010, TAMPA BAY newspaperPinellas County commissioners passed an ordinance Jan. 19 that will help protect the county’s waterways. The ordinance includes a ban on the sale and application of nitrogen and phosphorous fertilizers from June 1 to Sept. 30. It also regulates landscape and maintenance practices. [...]
Our Voice: Stop studying Great Lakes woes and use grants to start addressing problems By Bay City Times staff February 07, 2010, 5:58AMThough the deadline for submissions has passed, we offer this idea: The EPA should require that money any group receives be spent directly on action. We’re not saying that environmental studies and data [...]
Fight seen over ban on winter spreading of manure By PERRY BEEMAN pbeeman@dmreg.com February 14, 2010 , DES MOINES REGISTER Another showdown looms over Iowa's regulations governing farmers' ability to spread manure on frozen or snow-covered fields. Livestock interests are pushing legislation that would effectively lift the winter ban on applying manure, said Wayne [...]
Environmental group pushes back against HGS By Walter Pierce Thursday, 11 February 2010, The Independent Weekly, http://www.theind.com The Louisiana Environmental Action Network has submitted a letter to the state Department of Environmental Quality opposing Henry Gas Storage’s proposal to discharge salt brine into Louisiana territorial waters off the coast of Marsh Island. Wilma Subra, technical [...]
