Way to go! Congressman Steve King and Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa! And the gutless, probably understaffed EPA (thanks to GOP running interference):
The Environmental Protection Agency is obliged under the Clean Water Act to monitor America’s waterways and shield them from the toxic runoff from factory farms. But the growth of that industry, and its courtroom tenacity, has far outstripped the E.P.A.’s efforts to restrict runoff from manure lagoons and feedlots.
Last year, the agency meekly withdrew two proposed rules. One would have gathered basic information from all factory farms. The other proposed rule would have expanded the number of such farms required to have a national pollution discharge permit. Fewer than 60 percent do now.
Then, last week, in yet another retreat, the agency announced that promised new regulations governing feedlot discharges nationally would not be forthcoming.
According to the E.P.A.’s own studies, agricultural runoff is the leading cause of impaired water quality. The amount of manure produced by factory farms is staggering.
Those Iowa boys. They got to look out for those factory farms on their turf. You damn betcha they are doing their best to underfund and threaten the EPA and the USDA. Never mind about the rights of other Americans to drink clean water and eat healthy food.
I understand that Iowa Congressman King is suffering from more than his usual delusions:
SteveKing@SteveKingIA
20 brazen self professed illegal aliens have just invaded my DC office. Obama's lawless ordergives them de facto immunity from U.S. law.
You know, Congressman, you might want to check out that Iowa water you drink. The kind of organisms in that gunk can do strange things to your mind.
King is so full of himself -- and the strange substances that result in runoff from factory farms -- that he wants to stomp all over states' rights:
FINLAND, Minn. - The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) today called on all members of Congress to reject the King Amendment and any other amendments or riders to the 2013 Farm Bill that would take away states' rights to enact laws requiring the labeling of foods containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The OCA also launched a national petition asking consumers to tell their Congress members that if they pass a Farm Bill with the King Amendment, or other similar riders or amendments, their constituents will vote - or throw - them out of office.
"If the King Amendment survives, and is included in the 2013 Farm Bill, it will wipe out more than 150 state laws governing agriculture, food and food safety," said Ronnie Cummins, National Director of the OCA. "The biotech industry knows that it's only a matter of time before Washington State, Vermont, Maine, Connecticut and other states pass GMO labeling laws. Rather than fight this battle in every state, Monsanto is trying to manipulate Congress to pass a Farm Bill that will wipe out citizens' rights to state laws intended to protect their health and safety."
The King Amendment, inserted into the Farm Bill under the guise of protecting interstate commerce, passed out of the House Agricultural Committee on Wednesday, May 15. The amendment was proposed by Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), largely in response to a California law stating that by 2015, California will allow only eggs to be sold from hens housed in cages specified by California. But policy analysts emphasize that the amendment, broadly and ambiguously written, could be used to prohibit or preempt any state GMO labeling or food safety law.
In the meantime, the nomination of Gina McCarthy to lead the EPA is pending and pending and pending. I can't imagine what Chuck Grassly might have to do with that. My Gawd! That woman might git out there and regulate things!
Like those goldarn Meatless Monday folks:
These large factory farms already have a tight grip on legislators. Earlier this year, the USDA was pressured into apologizing for its internal Meatless Monday initiative by Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Rep. Steve King (R-IA), who claimed the optional vegetarian day was a full-scale attack on agriculture. The meat industry has also managed to pass “ag gag” laws in five states that make it illegal for whistleblowers to secretly film inside facilities or take a job under false pretenses.