For
immediate release: May 3, 2006
For more information, contact: Vern Tigges at 712-792-2701
or Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement at 515-282-0484.
Calls legislation factory farm
pandering at its finest
Des Moines
– Members of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement sharply
criticized today’s House vote on Senate File 2377. The vote,
64 to 23 in favor of the controversial bill, was viewed by Iowa
CCI members as pandering to corporate agricultural special-interests.
CCI members believe this bill would hand the permitting process
over to the factory farm industry.
“This bill is completely contrary
to the $18 million the legislature has agreed to spend on cleaning
up Iowa’s water,” said CCI member Vern Tigges of Carroll.
“With this bill – the legislature is saying let’s
let corporate ag pollute our water and then just spend our tax dollars
trying to clean it up. That’s not governing – that’s
pandering.”
The proposed legislation would:
- Eliminate virtually all of the DNR’s
authority to deny or modify a factory farm construction permit
or manure management plan;
- Make it illegal for DNR to inspect a
construction site for potential problems;
- And force the DNR to take factory
farms at their word when they submit construction permit applications.
“If the legislators think passing
this bill on the final days of the session will hide the fact that
they are pro-corporate ag and anti-clean water – they are
dead wrong,” said Tigges continued. “We are watching
what they are doing. Iowans are sick and tired of our water being
polluted and unsafe.”
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources
is also opposed to the bill. CCI members will lobby the Governor
to veto the legislation.
Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement
is a 30 year old organization with thousands of members across the
state from all walks of life who talk, act and get things done on
critical issues affecting everyday Iowans. For more information,
visit www.iowacci.org
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