Recall that in 2015, then-Iowa governor and Earth hater Terry Branstad helped to block a federal lawsuit that could have stopped industrial agriculture from polluting the Des Moines drinking water supply. Today, there are at least 23.4 million hogs in Iowa's concentrated animal feeding operations or about 7.3 pigs for every human in the state. Iowa livestock operations generate roughly 107 million tons of manure annually and the volume of animal waste produced is dozens of times greater than the human fecal waste generated by the state's residents.
Voluntary buffer strips and other conservation practices have simply failed desertifying parts of the state and causing the Raccoon River to be named one of the most endangered waterways in the United Snakes. And, following the release of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's latest measurements Iowa Farmers Union President Aaron Lehman said that state's Nutrient Reduction Management Strategy is proving to be ineffective in controlling hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico. But, Lehman is concerned that without further financial incentives from the Trump Organization Republican welfare farmers will simply continue polluting waterways.
Industrial agriculture is ecocide and for those of us who love the Earth shucks like farm subsidies are greenwashing but ironically many Republicans actually benefitting from reduced greenhouse emissions decry the sequestration of carbon as caving to the Green New Deal. 20 of Iowa's 99 counties are devoted exclusively to food that is ultimately burned for automobile fuel but according to Iowa State University some land impacted by pipelines never recovers from the disturbance. Iowa contributes some 40% of the pollution killing the Gulf of Mexico.
Welfare farmers have ruined their own wells and the Big Sioux River but South Dakota will flout Waters of the United States rulings until the cows come home unless or until downstream states cry foul. Now, that has happened as the proposed $10 billion Dakota Mainstem Regional Water System pipeline project would supply South Dakota and portions of three neighboring states, with a capacity of 195 million gallons per day.
The planned expansion of the Lewis and Clark Rural Water System that the system’s members already project will need an additional 95 million gallons per day over the next 40 years plan to increase capacity to 60 million gallons per day by 2030 even as the US Army Corps of Engineers warns of low Missouri River levels.
Cancer rates in Iowa are the second highest in the US and public polling indicates that nearly 80% of registered Iowa voters support transition to mandatory pollution reduction requirements for large-scale agriculture. Both candidates for governor, the Democratic nominee Rob Sand and the Earth hater Zach Lahn, say more needs to be done.
"I think the Democratic Party at its best is the party for the little guy," Sand told a crowd in Corydon, Iowa, recently. "I'm also a believer that we want to have clean water to fish in and abundant public land to hunt on, and the Democratic Party is more of a supporter of those things." NPR reached out to the Iowa Farm Bureau and the Iowa Corn Growers Association for comment but did not hear back. [High cancer rates and dirty water: The crisis shaping Iowa's toss-up governor's race]Learn more at South Dakota Searchlight.
No comments:
Post a Comment