Tuesday, February 13, 2007 U.S. security tied to biofuels, Vilsack says He'll present his energy policy today, the first from the Democratic field. BY TOM BEAUMONT REGISTER STAFF WRITER Former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack plans today to outline - in his first national policy speech as a candidate for president - an energy strategy that fuses the goal of weaning the United States off petroleum with reducing global warming. http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070213/NEWS09/702130405/-1/archive ----------- Senate panel OKs cloning of embryonic stem cells Democrats supporting the bill say it maintains Iowa's ban on cloning humans, but Republican opponents disagree. By JONATHAN ROOS REGISTER STAFF WRITER Medical researchers in Iowa would be allowed to create embryonic stem cells through cloning under a bill that took its first step Monday in the Legislature. http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070213/NEWS10/702130393/-1/archive --------- Sunday, February 11, 2007 Shape this farm bill for the future THE REGISTER'S EDITORIAL As Congress begins writing a new farm bill, agriculture in America stands at the precipice of unprecedented change. http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070211/OPINION03/702110310/1035/archive --------- With biofuels, consider: Who suffers? Who benefits? By ERIC HOLT-GIMENEZ and KEVIN FINGERMAN SPECIAL TO THE REGISTER Biofuels, derived from everything from corn to French-fry grease, are being widely touted in corporate advertisements, news stories and recently in the president's State of the Union address as a silver-bullet solution to global warming, the savior of depressed rural economies and the key to reducing our dependence on foreign oil. http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070211/OPINION01/702110315/1035/archive ----------- Attributes of best biofuel: Cost-efficient, eco-friendly By DOUG FRATER SPECIAL TO THE REGISTER Disparate, powerful factions are unified that the world needs to find an alternative to fossil fuels. The World Economic Forum and President George W. Bush's State of the Union address both sounded the alarm on America's dependence on foreign sources of energy. Hopes are high for the United States to find ways to become less dependent on gasoline http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070211/OPINION01/702110317/1035/archive ------------ A battle over biofuels Don't underestimate farmers and science By DEAN OESTREICH SPECIAL TO THE REGISTER While nearly 80 percent of Americans favor increased use of ethanol to ease our "addiction" to oil, there is still concern that ethanol's demand for corn will create grain shortages that drive up the cost of food. http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070211/OPINION01/702110316/1035/archive ----------- Journey to Antarctica Step aside if a penguin waddles nearby. It even may have an egg between its feet. By VERNICE KINGSBURY SPECIAL TO THE REGISTER On Dec. 6, 2006, my granddaughter, Gwendolyn Kingsbury, and I left Indianola on a trip to Antarctica. http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070211/LIFE/702110301/1039/archive -------------- Brasher: Farm bill worries livestock producers WASHINGTON FARM REPORT Well-funded activists will push legislation to stop practices they consider inhumane to animals. By PHILIP BRASHER REGISTER WASHINGTON BUREAU Washington, D.C. - It used to be that farmers only watched the debates over a farm bill to see how much money they would get out of it. http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070211/BUSINESS01/702110327/1029/archive ----------------- Monday, February 12, 2007 LTE -- Clean water, air are apolitical The Democratic leadership in the Iowa Legislature has indicated that local control for the siting of livestock confinements may not be discussed this year. In a recent Iowa Press episode, David Yepsen addressed this and opined that "there's a lot of liberals in the Democratic party who thought that's what they were fighting their hearts out for." The statewide fight for local control is neither left nor right, Republican nor Democrat, liberal nor conservative. It is being fought by people from all walks of life and belief systems who feel that they should decide what is best for their communities. Is it so extreme to think that communities would want a voice in the siting of an industry that may impact their drinking water, their air quality and their quality of life? You don't have to be a "liberal" to want plentiful, clean water or clean air to breathe. You don't have to be a "liberal" to want the right to enjoy your property as the Iowa Constitution allows. Farm-group leaders like to talk about Iowa's livestock "industry." Well, then, let local governments and citizens have a say in whether or not this industry locates in their community, just as they would have the say for any other commercial business. - Barb Kalbach, president, Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, Dexter. ---------------- Saturday, February 10 LTE - Iowans should lead the charge against warming Your editorial, "Iowa Should Step up on Global Warming" is admirable in some respects (Jan. 27). But interestingly, the editorial missed an essential step in limiting CO2 emissions in the atmosphere. Energy conservation is critical. Without a sharp reduction in the amount of energy used, implementing successful wind or ethanol solutions will be difficult, if not impossible. Individuals need to conserve automobile and household consumption. We need to look closely at how we use energy. Do we often drive to places that we could easily have walked? Do we commute long distances alone in a car when we could take public transportation? We shouldn't look to just technology and regulation to solve the problem. It needs to be an attitude change from within every individual. - Gervase Gallant, Windsor Heights. LTE - Corn should go to fuel, not pigs The CEO of Tyson Foods recently said that Americans have to choose between feed for fuel and feed for livestock or corn prices will remain high, protein prices will rise and Americans will pay higher prices for their meat. Moreover, high corn prices will have farmers taking land out of the Conservation Reserve Program for corn production, further degrading Iowa soil, not to mention missing the future opportunity to supply ethanol plants with mature prairiegrass and switchgrass instead of soil-eroding corn. There are several good reasons to sacrifice the pig: A three-year moratorium on hog confinements (CAFOs) will jump-start the ethanol industry; pacify the environmentalists; heed the human-health warnings of the University of Iowa; and do much to save small family hog farmers. - Eileen Dannemann, Fairfield. LTE - Grassley's common sense doesn't work on Big Oil February 10, 2007 4 Comments I am so tired of reading the Register's praise of U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley's "common sense." Yes, he is chasing down tax loopholes involving taxidermy and contributions to college athletics, but why does it take a Democratic Congress to discuss abolishing the big oil subsidies? This is a man who still does not take global warming seriously enough to answer "planet" instead of "economy" when asked which of the two is more important. In a 2006 letter to me, he stated: "I believe that the scientific evidence [for global warming] to date is a cause for concern, but that it does not yet dictate radical measures that could have a damaging effect on our economy and our way of life." No wonder he backs every effort to open up new, ecologically fragile areas to oil drilling while doling out a few tax breaks here and there for alternative energy sources. We should not be propping up the oil industry by permitting it to despoil our coastlines and our Arctic Wildlife Refuge. We should appropriate truly significant funds for the development of wind and solar energy and ocean thermal energy conversion. Let Big Oil run out of new drilling sites and watch it suddenly diversify into wind farms and solar home-heating kits. - Barbara Aszman Stone, Grinnell. Neila Seaman, MPA Director Sierra Club, Iowa Chapter 3839 Merle Hay Road, Suite 280 Des Moines, IA 50310 [log in to unmask] 515-277-8868 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To unsubscribe from the IOWA-TOPICS list, send any message to: [log in to unmask] Check out our Listserv Lists support site for more information: http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/faq.asp Sign up to receive Sierra Club Insider, the flagship e-newsletter. Sent out twice a month, it features the Club's latest news and activities. Subscribe and view recent editions at http://www.sierraclub.org/insider/