A central Iowa partnership has emerged to encourage the use of cover crops in farm fields in the watersheds of the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers in an effort to boost the quality of the metro’s major sources of drinking water. Polk County will buy a $600,000 tractor that isContinue Reading
As the Biden administration’s move to scrap new oil and gas leases remains in unsettled legal territory, Democrats and Republicans on a U.S. House panel sharply disagreed this week about the merits of new energy development in the Gulf of Mexico. Democrats on the House Natural Resources Energy and MineralContinue Reading
The state of Iowa has fined two Davenport men $10,000 apiece, accusing them of illegal tire hauling and abandoning thousands of junk tires on multiple properties. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources imposed the fines against David Omar Mercado and Tim Peters this month after attempting to get their tire-haulingContinue Reading
A 2020 Iowa law that provides stiffer penalties for trespassing at livestock facilities does not infringe the First Amendment rights of animal-rights activists, a state district judge ruled this week. The law was adopted in the wake of successful legal challenges to previous so-called “ag gag” laws to dissuade activistsContinue Reading
WASHINGTON — Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack faced questions on how his agency is doling out emergency pandemic aid and fostering collaboration with historically Black colleges during a Thursday hearing before the House Agriculture Committee. Committee Chairman David Scott, a Georgia Democrat, asked Vilsack for “critical updates on the implementation ofContinue Reading
An assistant Wright County attorney moved Tuesday to dismiss the criminal charges against an animal-rights activist accused of trespassing at a Dows hog confinement, placing recording devices inside the facility and stealing a piglet in May 2020. The request came two days before a trial was set to begin forContinue Reading
For the first time, a deer with chronic wasting disease was discovered in the interior of Iowa in Greene County, far away from counties where the disease has previously been detected, according to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. The fatal neurological disease affects deer, elk and moose and wasContinue Reading
The Biden administration will announce Tuesday it is using $3 billion from last year’s infrastructure law to revamp the federal approach to wildfire management, introducing a 10-year plan to deal with the large swaths of the West scientists consider most at risk of destructive blazes. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, aContinue Reading
Family farmers like me have been calling for years for aggressive federal action to break up monopolies and make markets more fair. We know what happens when a handful of companies control livestock and meatpacking markets: farmers earn a shrinking share of the food dollar, farm income declines, and meatpackersContinue Reading
There are small amounts of so-called “forever chemicals” in Sioux City’s treated drinking water, and the likely source of contamination is an Iowa Air National Guard base, said Brad Puetz, utilities director for Sioux City. An analysis of groundwater in the area about three years ago revealed perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkylContinue Reading
Iowa’s two U.S. senators hope to codify a waiver into federal law that would allow gasoline fuels that are 15% ethanol to be sold during the summer. “I hope Congress can act to fix this issue,” U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, a Republican, said this week. “It makes no sense forContinue Reading
Two of the three major players of a proposed regional water system for the Des Moines metro area are on board. Now, attention turns to West Des Moines. The three trustees of the Urbandale Water Utility voted unanimously Wednesday to be a founding member of the proposed Central Iowa WaterContinue Reading
Another out-of-state company has announced a plan to build hundreds of miles of pipeline to transport carbon dioxide from ethanol plants and pump it into the ground. Wolf Carbon Solutions said it has an agreement with Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (ADM) to take carbon dioxide from its facilities in Cedar Rapids andContinue Reading
Statewide drinking water testing has revealed two more cities with detectable amounts of toxic chemicals that persist indefinitely in the environment, including Ames, the state’s ninth-most-populous city. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is sampling water in dozens of cities to gain a better understanding of the prevalence of perfluoroalkylContinue Reading
For years Sioux City has failed to properly treat its wastewater to ensure excessive amounts of bacteria or treatment chemicals weren’t expelled into the Missouri River, according to a state lawsuit that was filed against the city Friday. “The city potentially endangered human lives and wildlife by violating water-quality rulesContinue Reading