Forwarded by Jane Clark
September 10, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Clean Water Advocates Say Crop Subsidies
Contribute to Water Pollution Problems
Iowa -- As the five major commodity crops reap billions in taxpayer dollars
each year, nearly 75 percent of farmer requests for voluntary conservation
assistance go unfunded and soil erosion rules for crop subsidy recipients
are barely enforced. The result: 1.7 billion tons of topsoil erodes off
agricultural fields nationwide, polluting America's waters and fisheries
with sediment and millions of pounds of fertilizer and pesticides, according
to a new report from Environmental Working Group, Trouble Downstream:
Upgrading Conservation Compliance.
"Conservation Compliance is a way to assure that taxpayer dollars used for
federal crop subsidy payments will not inadvertently encourage degradation
of soil and water resources," said Susan Heathcote, Water Program Director
for the Iowa Environmental Council and Chair of the Mississippi River Water
Quality Collaborative's Farm Program Workgroup, which initiated the
Conservation Compliance Report.
Conservation Compliance requires that farmers, in order to continue to
receive federal farm benefits, agree to reduce soil erosion on cropland that
is most vulnerable to soil erosion. They also agree to preserve the few
remaining wetland areas on their farms that have not already been converted
to cropland.
Conservation Compliance has been part of the Farm Bill since 1985 and has
helped farmers reduce soil erosion by 40 percent from 1982 to 1997, saving
1.2 billion tons of soil from being washed off farm fields.
"This accomplishment is important to assure that our fertile cropland soils
won't be washed away and will be there for future generations of farmers,"
Heathcote said.
The report highlights the fact that there has been little additional
progress in reducing soil erosion since 1997-soil is still eroding at
unsustainable rates. According the National Resources Inventory, nearly one
third of cropland in the US (100 million acres) is still eroding at rates
that do not sustain the soil fertility over time. Over 1.76 billion tons of
soil is still being lost each year.
"We need to strengthen the Conservation Compliance program to protect all of
our valuable cropland from excessive soil loss," Heathcote said.
The report also shows that Conservation Compliance is not currently
addressing nutrient and pesticide runoff from agricultural land, but should.
When water runs off of agricultural land it carries with it not only eroded
soil but also nitrogen and phosphorus pollution from manure and fertilizer.
This pollution leads to sediment choked rivers and lakes and algae blooms
that rob water of oxygen killing fish, fouling drinking water, and
preventing swimming and other recreational uses.
Heathcote says requiring minimum grass buffer strips which separate crop
fields from stream banks would help keep soil out of the water, and
requiring nutrient management plans for all cropland would help assure that
fertilizer and manure will be used by the crops instead of running off into
the water.
"A stronger Conservation Compliance Program is especially critical now as
the rapid expansion of the ethanol industry has led farmers to plant more
acres to corn to supply all the new ethanol plants springing up across the
landscape," Heathcote said.
This year, farmers in the U.S. planted the largest corn crop in 63 years,
with corn acreage up 19 percent over last year. This trend is expected to
continue to climb as new ethanol plants continue to be built.
"The Mississippi River Basin Water Quality Collaborative feels that
expanding and strengthening Conservation Compliance on farmland is critical
to the health of the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico as well as
water quality in the rivers and lakes in our states. When we look at all of
the pollution problems affecting water quality in our states and the
Mississippi River we find that runoff from agriculture is the biggest source
of water pollution affecting the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico,"
Heathcote said.
The Collaborative is a group of Clean Water Advocates working together to
reduce water pollution problems in the Mississippi River. Members of the
collaborative include environmental organizations working in the ten states
that border the Mississippi River, as well as regional and national groups
that work on Mississippi River issues.
-- end --
Members of the Mississippi Water Quality Collaborative that are jointly
releasing this report along with the Environmental Working Group include:
Environmental Law & Policy Center (nine states in the MS River Basin)
Gulf Restoration Network (Mississippi and Louisiana)
Iowa Environmental Council
Kentucky Waterways Alliance, Inc.
Louisiana Environmental Action Network
Midwest Environmental Advocates, Inc. (Wisconsin)
Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy
Missouri Coalition for the Environment
Prairie Rivers Network (Illinois)
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (Tennessee)
Tennessee Clean Water Network
The Minnesota Project
Editors contact for Environmental Working Group:
Donald Carr
202-936-9141 or [log in to unmask]
Lynn M. Laws
Communications Director
Iowa Environmental Council
521 East Locust, Suite 220
Des Moines, IA 50309
515-244-1194, x 210
[log in to unmask]
www.iaenvironment.org
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