Council backs zoo expansion using parkland
Polk County supervisors and conservation officials will consider the matter
at meetings Wednesday.
By JASON CLAYWORTH
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
Des Moines City Council members Monday gave zoo and Polk County conservation
officials their approval to move forward with the latest $50 million zoo
expansion plan.
The plan allows the zoo to use about half of the roughly 120-acre Fort Des
Moines Park, including a popular public fishing pond.
http://dmregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070313/NEWS05/703130393/-1/archive
-------------------------------
Senate approves money for energy office
A piece of Gov. Chet Culver's plan for a $100 million Iowa Power Fund to
spur the development of the state's renewable energy industry was approved
Monday by the Senate.
A supplemental spending bill including $250,000 for the creation of an
Office of Renewable Energy was passed without opposition and sent to the
House for more debate. The $250,000 would pay for Culver's hiring of an
executive director and two support staff members.
Senate File 403 also spends an extra $105,000 from this year's state budget
on expenses for maintaining Terrace Hill, the governor's mansion, and an
additional $70,000 for "transition" costs related to Culver's takeover of
the governor's office after winning the election in November.
-------------------------
Make farm bill protect, conserve, groups say
Environmentalists' influence depends on unity, official says
By JERRY PERKINS
REGISTER FARM EDITOR
Promoting soil and water conservation and protecting wildlife habitat must
be important parts of the 2007 farm bill, conservation groups said Monday at
a forum on the legislation.
Hunting and environmental groups should speak with a unified voice if they
want to influence the farm bill debate, said Brad Redlin, director of
agricultural programs for the Izaak Walton League of America in St. Paul,
Minn.
http://dmregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070313/BUSINESS01/703130374/1029/archive
---------------------
LTEs
Cougars are not just pretty kitties
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources wants cougars protected in Iowa.
First it denied cougars were here. Now it's trying to convince Iowans,
through displays at publicly funded nature centers, that cougars are
beautiful, shy, harmless creatures.
What the DNR doesn't teach schoolchildren with its colorful presentations is
that according to a National Geographic program, two-thirds of cougar
attacks are on children. Cougars can weigh up to 200 pounds, grow to 7 or 8
feet long, live up to 18 years, travel as far as 50 miles in search of food
and kill animals much larger than themselves.
Calves, lambs and piglets will be easy prey. Pheasant, turkey and deer
populations will suffer. Even the family's pet cat is a target. The DNR
would have cougars protected in parks where people camp and hike.
- Denise Leubka,
Williamsburg.
Fluorescent bulbs' small drawbacks are manageable
Your March 7 editorial, "Switch to More Efficient Light Bulbs, But Beware,"
is a bit misleading. Yes, one of the easiest and cheapest ways for everyone
to help reduce global warming is the use of compact fluorescent light bulbs
(CFLs). And, yes, CFLs contain small amounts of toxic mercury that we should
dispose of carefully.
However, according to the Iowa Waste Reduction Center, "using [CFLs]
ironically decreases the amount of mercury released to the environment. A
coal-burning power plant, the most popular type in the Midwest, will emit
four times more mercury to produce the electricity for an incandescent bulb
than for a CFL."
So, let's not let people think using CFLs is a step in the wrong direction
when, even if carelessly disposed of, their use is still significantly
better stewardship of God's creation than our current use of incandescent
bulbs.
- Tim Kautza,
Iowa Interfaith Climate and Energy Campaign,
Iowa Interfaith Power and Light,
Ankeny.
-
Of course no one who was thinking would believe that residents (other than
possibly residents of Bondurant itself) would drive their burnt-out light
bulbs to Bondurant for safe disposal. But all needn't be lost.
The waste authority could print red hazardous-waste tags similar to the
"Compost It" tags and market them through the same sites it uses now.
Eco-conscious citizens could then put their used compact-fluorescent bulbs
in transparent bags, attach a hazardous waste sticker and put them out with
their recycling bin for collection and ultimate transport to Bondurant by
the solid-waste authority.
The sticker fees might even offset the added cost or at least a significant
part of it.
No laws need to be changed and only a very minor accommodation to processes
already in place would be needed.
What do you want to bet they're not serious enough about the toxic wastes
getting into the water table to effect such a simple solution?
- Phil Stevens,
Des Moines.
Neila Seaman, MPA
Director
Sierra Club, Iowa Chapter
3839 Merle Hay Road, Suite 280
Des Moines, IA 50310
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