Friday, December 10, 1999  TX: Ken Kramer, 512-476-6962 IA: Jen
     Hensley, 309-781-1996 309-736-1960
     DC: Allen Mattison, pager 888-920-9844

     IOWANS FEAR BUSH RECORD ON FACTORY FARM POLLUTION

     DES MOINES, IOWA -- The Sierra Club today called on Texas Governor
     George W. Bush to take action to stop water pollution caused by manure
     from factory farms in Texas.  Livestock operations in Texas generate
     twice as much manure as the second-leading state, and the Bush
     Administration made it much easier to build new factory farms in
     Texas.  Iowans are very concerned about Gov. Bush's record on factory
     farm pollution because they also suffer from significant contamination
     from Hawkeye state operations.

     "Animal manure from factory farms poses a growing threat to Texas'
     drinking water, streams, lakes and groundwater," said Ken Kramer,
     director of the Lone Star Chapter (Texas) of Sierra Club.  "Instead of
     encouraging more factory farms in Texas, Governor Bush should stop
     existing operations from polluting our water, and place a moratorium
     on new factory farms."

     "Factory farms that soil  rivers, streams, and drinking water are an
     unfortunately familiar sight and smell here in Iowa, too," said Steve
     Veysey from Iowa Sierra Club.  "Because of Iowa's problems, we are
     very concerned about Gov. Bush's poor record on factory farm pollution
     in Texas.  We strongly urge him to clean up Texas' factory farms, and
     to support our efforts to clean up Iowa by advocating a moratorium on
     new operations."

     Factory farms are large chicken, pig, cattle or dairy farms that house
     thousands of animals in relatively small confines.  These animals
     produce billions of pounds of manure, and cause water pollution when
     the large
     volume of manure the operations apply to the land runs off into rivers
     and streams, contaminating the water with bacteria, nitrogen and
     phosphorus.  Texas livestock operations produce 220 billion pounds of
     manure annually, twice as much as the second leading state,
     California.  Manure runoff, along with other sources of pollution,
     contributes to making 27 percent of Texas' waters unfit for swimming.
     In addition, factory farms generate unbearable odors that can cause
     illness and drive residents indoors.

     Near Perryton, Texas, for example, where Texas Farms Inc. has grown to
     249,000 hogs in the last two years, the Texas Natural Resources
     Conservation Commission denied neighbors an opportunity to participate
     in a  hearing on the facility's permit.  Now the odors from the hog
     operation cause neighbors to suffer from nausea and headaches and even
     prevent them from opening their windows in the evening, according to
     Donnie Dendy, President of ACCORD AG, a group of small family farmers
     and ranchers interested in protecting the environment.

     "Governor Bush and the Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission
     have streamlined the  process to remove public involvement and the
     right to know," said Dendy, a lifelong area resident and farmer. "Gov.
     Bush and the TNRCC have turned a deaf ear to rural  residents."

     Iowa also suffers from factory farm pollution.  From 1994 to 1998, 51
     major hog manure spills in Iowa killed more than one million fish.
     Some spills involved hundreds of thousands of gallons of hog manure;
     in one 1995 case, an Iowa factory farm spilled 1.5 million gallons of
     hog manure.  Animal waste contributes large amounts of bacteria and
     nutrients to Iowa's waters, which are suffering from high levels of
     these two contaminants.  Paul Johnson, of the Iowa Department of
     Natural Resources, told the Des Moines Register that "Iowa is awash in
     nutrients, and we have to do something about it." (March 14, 1999)

     Studies undertaken by Texas Institute for Applied Environmental
     Research at Tarleton State University, for example, have confirmed
     that the huge concentration of dairy operations is the main
     contributor to severe contamination of the North Bosque River
     watershed.  The North Bosque is the source of drinking water for Waco.
     Even though the water in the Bosque River violates water quality
     standards, Gov. Bush's appointees to the TNRCC continue to allow the
     dairy farms in the watershed to expand their operations and increase
     their wastes.  Incredibly, the TNRCC has allowed new dairy operations
     to locate there, producing still more manure.  And the affected
     neighbors were denied a public hearing to raise their concerns about
     the air and water pollution and odors created by these new operations.

     Even though ACCORD AG successfully sued the TNRCC to invalidate the
     agency rules that did not allow hearings on proposed new factory
     farms, Gov. Bush's appointees continued to pass rule after rule to
     prevent affected neighbors from having contested case hearings when
     new factory farms are proposed.  As a result, it is easier for factory
     farms to begin and expand operations in Texas.

     "These factory farms are driving family livestock farmers out of
     business," noted Kramer.  "Stronger  protections to make sure that
     factory farms protect the environment will level the  playing field
     for smaller livestock operations."

     The Sierra Club has 4,500 members in Iowa, 19,000 in Texas, and over
     550,000 nationwide.
     # # #

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