Associated Press
05-30-007
Group criticizes study's end without air quality regulations
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- An environmental group is criticizing the state's move
to end a study of potentially dangerous emissions that waft from factory farms.
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources will likely stop monitoring of
ammonia and hydrogen sulfide at the end of this year, when its funding runs out,
said Wayne Gieselman, the agency's head of environmental services. The
Legislature has funded the field study each of the past four years, spending more
than $1 million on the research.
"We've gone year-by-year on funding," he said Tuesday.
Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, an advocacy group, is criticizing the
move, saying the research is ending before the state has developed a plan to
regulate ammonia. It says the chemical can damage rural Iowans' health.
"They have to deal with a lot of issues, not just the smell, but the health problems
that are coming from the emissions," said Jessica Mayo, a rural organizer with
ICCI.
Gieselman said federal officials are continuing to examine emissions from
livestock confinements, and that a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency study
will continue for a couple of years.
"The EPA will be a lot bigger base to draw (information) from," he said.
In the meantime, Gieselman said he "really doubts that anything will happen here
or nationally until the EPA study is done."
That's been a sore spot for many environmental groups, who say protecting rural
residents' health continually gets put off by lawmakers who cave to industry
pressures, conducting study after study instead of taking action.
"Especially this last legislative session, a lot of bills got brought up and didn't go
anywhere," Mayo said.
Many point to a 2002 University of Iowa and Iowa State University study as an
example. It looked at air quality and recommended some safe health standards.
However, lawmakers pushed it aside and failed to adopt any ammonia
regulations.
The universities' study recommended a 150 parts per billion standard for
ammonia emissions. The DNR's 2006 field study results showed that of 10 sites,
they totaled 340 hours at or above that level, according to ICCI.
Mayo pointed out that the state has adopted a hydrogen sulfide health effects
value -- but it's twice the limit recommended by the universities' study.
On the Net:
Iowa Department of Natural Resources: http://www.iowadnr.com/