FYI, Sierra Club's own Tarah Heinzen had a great LTE this morning, and I
thought someone should toot her horn!

Lyle



Letters to the Editor

By Register Readers
12/06/2003
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Adopt confinement regulations

Iowa should adopt the recommended hydrogen-sulfide standard for livestock
confinements ("Farmers Rap Proposed Livestock-Pollution Rules," Nov. 18).

Absentee owners of factory farms who complain about the "burdens" of
regulation have probably never had to watch their children get sick from the
hydrogen sulfide and other toxins these facilities produce. Thousands of
rural Iowans are not that lucky.

Agribusinesses threaten that regulation will hurt Iowa's
agriculture-friendly image and our livestock industry itself. Let's get
serious here. Public health laws don't lessen the esteem of Iowa in the
nation's eyes - huge pits of unregulated manure do.

When factory farms aren't required to pay for their pollution, somebody else
has to. We can't forget who the true victims are: family farmers who can't
compete on an uneven playing field, and communities forced to live with air
and water pollution.

The proposed hydrogen-sulfide standard is a step - which most states have
already taken - in the right direction long overdue. Only when they are held
accountable can livestock confinements be the good neighbors they're
claiming to be.

Tarah Heinzen,
Sierra Club conservation organizer, Des Moines.
___________________________________________________

Lyle R. Krewson
Sierra Club Conservation Organizer
6403 Aurora Avenue #3
Des Moines, IA 50322-2862

515/276-8947
515/238-7113 - cel

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