We cannot afford to sacrifice Iowa’s
natural resources to the greed of corporate agriculture. That is
why I am calling on you to act today to protect our air and water
quality.
1) The state has recorded levels of ammonia
near factory farms well above the safe health standard of 150
parts per billion – the highest reading was more than 11
times the standard! I ask you to support and enforce strong air
quality standards for factory farms – the standards that
27 of Iowa’s best university research scientists say are
needed to protect Iowans’ health.
2) Factory farms are spilling manure
into our water – the Iowa Department of Natural Resources
has documented it. The Department of Natural Resources is now
requiring three factory farms to get Clean Water Act permits.
While this is a good first step, we are urging you to require
all factory farms that spill manure into our water to obtain strongly
enforced Clean Water Act permits.
