Clive, state officials require truck stop to clean spill
REGISTER STAFF REPORTS
The City of Clive and Iowa environment officials is requiring the Flying J
Travel Plaza in Clive to begin immediate repair of a retention pond at its
suburban truck stop after a petroleum spill earlier this week.
Officials will also require water sampling in nearby Walnut Creek, which
received the polluted water.
http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070308/NEWS/70308011/1001/NEWS
--------------
Pickup truck owners would lose fee break
A bargain fee enjoyed by pickup truck owners, putting them at an advantage
over the owners of cars and sport utility vehicles, could disappear with the
purchase of new pickups in 2009.
Owners of pickups currently pay a flat vehicle registration fee of $65 a
year. Fees for other types of vehicles can run hundreds of dollars higher,
based on a formula using their weight and value.
Under a bill endorsed Wednesday by the Senate Transportation Committee,
annual registration fees on pickups would be figured the same way as those
on other vehicles, beginning with the purchase of 2009 models.
The flat fee would still apply to pickups from the 2008 model year or older.
While Senate File 136 faces an uphill battle, the fee proposal is part of
the mix of ideas being considered by state officials as they look for ways
to shore up Iowa's road construction fund.
Bio research project is endorsed by panel
A proposed biomanufacturing research initiative at Iowa State University,
involving products such as ethanol that are derived from the processing of
biomass, was endorsed Wednesday by the Senate Transportation Committee.
Senate Study Bill 1320 would allocate $50 million over five years for the
project. The money would pay for laboratory space, equipment and salaries
for "world-class research personnel."
------------------
Opinion Page
Yepsen: Beyond renewables, Joe Bolkom's bright idea
By DAVID YEPSEN
REGISTER POLITICAL COLUMNIST
Everybody in the Iowa Legislature is falling all over themselves supporting
renewable fuels and energy efficiency.
They're even going to create a $100 million "Iowa Power Fund" by making a
$25 million down payment this year. (Never mind they're not sure how to
spend the money.)
http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070308/OPINION01/703080372/1035/OPINION
--------------------------
Last week's storms show value of small-scale energy resources
By RICH DANA
SPECIAL TO THE REGISTER
During last week's severe weather, Iowans experienced the consequences of
two converging problems: the type of extreme weather events we can expect to
see more often due to global climate change, and the dependence of our
21st-century lifestyles on our 19th-century electrical transmission
technology. While watching the heroic efforts of utility personnel across
the state to restore safety and comfort to the more than 250,000 homes
deprived of electricity, the strategy of major energy companies for
upgrading the national generation and transmission system must be called
into question.
http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070308/OPINION01/703080366/1035/OPINION
-------------------------
LTEs
There are benefits to livestock contracts
It's a shame that the Register failed to note in its Feb. 24 story, "Battle
Set in Congress Over Packing Contracts," that one of the benefits of
livestock contracts and marketing agreements is that they are important
tools producers can choose to use to manage their most volatile risks,
including input costs and final price.
For example, many producers with marketing agreements limited their exposure
to the difficult market prices for hogs in the late 1990s.
Agreements have helped some limit the problems attendant to the surge in the
price of corn over the past 12 months. In both of these instances, the
flexibility of producers to lock in market prices for hogs or feed in
advance can mean the difference between seeing black or red at the end of
the year.
Furthermore, farmers can enter livestock contracts to lock in a guaranteed
cash flow when they're undertaking major capital investments to improve the
productivity of their land or the value of their farm. Once again, these
flexible agreements give producers a tool to combat the volatility of modern
agriculture.
A recent report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Grain Inspection,
Packers and Stockyards Administration unequivocally stated that restrictions
on the uses of marketing agreements "for sale of livestock to meatpackers
would have negative economic effects on livestock producers, meatpackers and
consumers."
Despite the finding of this report, which was mandated by Congress, there is
a move afoot in Washington to outlaw these agreements altogether.
Congress should be in the business of expanding opportunity for rural
America, not putting it out of business.
- J. Patrick Boyle,
president and CEO,
American Meat Institute,
Washington, D.C.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
To unsubscribe from the IOWA-TOPICS list, send any message to:
[log in to unmask]
Check out our Listserv Lists support site for more information:
http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/faq.asp
To view the Sierra Club List Terms & Conditions, see:
http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/terms.asp
|
