This was front page of the Globe Gazette - paper in the Worth County area.

http://www.globegazette.com/live/local/ni3.php

Local News Story
Posted online: Tue Jul 15 00:40:29 CDT 2003

Advocacy groups join Worth County legal battle

By KATHIE OBRADOVICH, Globe Des Moines Bureau

    DES MOINES - Several environmental and farmers' advocacy groups joined
the legal battle Monday over Worth County's efforts to regulate air
pollution from large-scale livestock operations.

The Sierra Club, the Iowa Farmers Union and Worth County Concerned Citizens
said Monday that they have filed a brief with the Iowa Supreme Court in
support of the local regulations.

"We fear the effects factory farm pollution will have on our health," said
James Berge, a member of Worth County Concerned Citizens.

Worth County approved an ordinance in 2001 aimed at addressing public-health
concerns by regulating pollution levels inside confinement buildings and at
nearby homes.

The Worth County Farm Bureau and others challenged the ordinance and a
district judge agreed that only the state had the authority to regulate
livestock operations.

"Without local control, rural Iowans are left at risk - unwittingly exposed
to dangerous levels of hydrogen sulfide, ammonia gas, dust and left to drink
contaminated groundwater," said Chris Petersen of Clear Lake, vice president
of the Iowa Farmers Union.

Worth County appealed to the Iowa Supreme Court, claiming that counties have
the right to protect citizens from public health threats. The environmental
groups filed a "friend of the court" brief Monday in support of the county's
case.

"The Worth County ordinance shows that a local government will take matters
into its own hands to protect citizens from factory farm pollution," Sierra
Club lawyer Barclay Rogers said.

Kendra Kimbirauskas
Sierra Club
3839 Merle Hay Rd. Suite 280
Des Moines, Iowa 50310
Tel:  (515) 251-3995
Cell: (612) 702-7298
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