Please take a moment to contact the Governor's office and the DNR, and ask
them to protect the integrity of our proposed clean water rules for factory
farms.
Thanks,
tarah heinzen
Help stop
DNR from caving into industry on Clean Water Rules
The DNR and the pro-factory farm industry are at it again, attempting to
stall and weaken the proposed clean water rules for factory farms. Factory
Farm interests submitted a regulatory analysis request to the DNR in
November.
The Regulatory analysis request is a little used provision in Iowa’s code
that requires an agency to weaken proposed rules if industry can show that
the rules will have a financial impact on “small businesses.”
Factory Farms know that these rules apply to facilities with over 1,000
animal units (2,500 head of hogs or more, 1,000 head of cattle or more, or
100,000 chickens or more) at any one time - not small farmers. This is just
another tactic to avoid responsibility for the problems that these
facilities create.
In addition, according to Iowa Code, in order for a regulatory analysis
request to be valid, it must be submitted within 32 days of the posting of
the rule, it must be requested by 25 small businesses (businesses that made
less than $1 million in the past year), and it must illustrate the potential
economic hardship.
The regulatory analysis request by industry failed to meet the statutory
requirements. Therefore, the DNR should ignore it and move forward with the
clean water rules. However, the DNR has stated that they will stall the
process and accept the regulatory analysis request for “political reasons” -
in other words to keep the Farm Bureau happy. This is just plain wrong!
Call DNR Director Vonk and Governor Vilsack today and tell them to throw out
the regulatory analysis request and move forward with strong clean water
rules now! Throwing out the request will send a message to factory farms
that the state is serious about clean water.
Call Vilsack and Vonk Today
Governor Tom Vilsack Director Jeff Vonk
c/o John Pederson Iowa Department of Natural Resources
State Capitol Building Wallace State Office Building
Des Moines, IA 50319 502 E 9th Street
515/281-4495 Des Moines, IA 50319
[log in to unmask] 515/281-5385
[log in to unmask]
Tarah Heinzen
Sierra Club Conservation Organizer
3839 Merle Hay Road, Suite 280
Des Moines, IA 50310
(515) 251-3995
[log in to unmask]
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