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According to the Clean Water Network and the Natural Resources Defense Council, environmental regulations at the federal and state level are not keeping pace with pollution from the rapidly expanding factory farm industry. The new report, America's Animal Factories, documents the disastrous environmental conditions caused by factory farms in 30 states.
CWN and NRDC point to the surge in factory farming, inadequacy of pollution control technology, and laxness of environmental regulation as the main causes of the gravity of the situation across the nation.
According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, feedlot manure impairs groundwater in 17 states. The US Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that manure runoff contaminates 60,000 miles of streams. In 1992, the General Accounting Office reported that less than one-third of the 6,600 farms large enough to require a federal permit actually applied for and received one. To make matters worse, the groups reported, many states continue to fall down on environmental regulations, instead offering up government benefits to factory farms to attract them within their borders.
In order to reverse the environmental damage caused by factory farming, CWN and NRDC are calling for a moratorium on Clean Water Act permits for new or expanding factory farms until all existing facilities have obtained permits and standards are upgraded. The groups also want EPA to ban large-scale open-air manure lagoons, halt spraying of manure and urine onto crops, and begin regulating the poultry industry like other animal operations.
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According to Steve Hansen, a spokesperson for the House Resources Committee, chaired by Representative Don Young (R-AK), it is likely the committee will hold hearings and introduce legislation on Endangered Species Act reform in the 106th Congress. Last year, the Resources Committee held a few oversight hearings on the issue, but never discussed reform legislation.
As in the past, efforts to reform the ESA in the 106th Congress will present many highly divisive issues. Representative Young's approach to ESA reform has been criticized by a number of moderate Republicans and has created diametrically opposed positions on the issue within the party. Speaker of the House Bob Livingston will have to find a way to reconcile the two sides if ESA reform legislation is to move ahead this Congress.
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Chances are good that there will be movement in both the Senate and the House on restructuring of the electric utility industry in the 106th Congress. According to industry and congressional sources, Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chair Frank Murkowski (R-AK) is abandoning his go-slow approach and may draft his own legislative proposal based on the restructuring principles he put forward in the 105th Congress. Senator Slade Gorton (R-WA) may also introduce a deregulation bill focusing largely on the private use issue. Private use restricts municipal and state-owned utilities from competing in a deregulated market.
In the House, leadership of the deregulation issue is up in the air due to the retirement of Representative Dan Schaefer (R-CO), chair of the Energy and Power Subcommittee. Representative Schaefer was unable to gain enough support to push through his deregulation bill before stepping down this fall. Potential candidates to assume his position on the committee are Representatives Joe Barton (R-TX), Michael Bilirakis (R-FL), and Dennis Hastert (R-IL). Like many Democrats, none of the frontrunners has expressed enthusiasm for a date-certain federal retail competition mandate.
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In an effort to derail the anti-mining measure approved by voters in November, Montana State Senator Chuck Swysgood (R-Dillon) is proposing that the 1999 Legislature postpone the new law until the public can revote on it in 2000. Changing gears from his initial push to nullify the ballot measure banning cyanide mining in Montana, Swysgood is drafting a bill asking the Legislature to refer the measure back to the ballot in November 2000.
Initiative 137, approved by Montana voters 52-48 %, prohibits any new or expanded open-pit gold or silver mine using cyanide to process ore.
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On November 13, President Clinton signed into law the Vision 2020 national parks overhaul bill which includes provisions to reform the concessions process. Senate Parks Subcommittee Chair Craig Thomas (R-WY) introduced the bill (S.1693) to amend the management practices of the National Park Service and create new funding sources for the cash-poor agency. The Senate approved the bill last June. After resolving remaining concerns on park concessions with the Administration, House Resources Committee Chair Don Young (R-AK), House Resources Committee ranking Democrat George Miller (D-CA), and Senate Energy and Natural Resources ranking Democrat Dale Bumpers (D-AR), Thomas was able to secure House support for his legislation.
Thomas's parks bill gives concessionaires interest in new facilities equal to construction costs with annual adjustments for inflation. The Vision 2020 parks bill also directs NPS to write a strategic management plan and update it on a regular basis, establishes a formal training process for employees, creates a new procedure for adding new park units, provides for the consideration of new science in decisions, and establishes a new $50 collectable stamp for entering all national parks.
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Last week, President Clinton announced stricter standards aimed at cleaning up the nation's tap water by targeting microbes that occasionally infect the drinking supply. In addition to the tighter rules, the measure will bring $869 million to local communities to help upgrade their water treatment systems.
The new standards, mandated by the revisions to the Safe Drinking Water Act in 1996, are designed to reduce contamination by cryptosporidium, giardia lamblia, and disinfectant byproducts. The government predicts that the cryptosporidium standard, which requires improved filtration, will prevent 460,000 illnesses a year. The other new standard is intended to cut by 25% exposure to byproducts created by disinfectants used to purify water, mainly chlorine. The increase to typical household water bills as a result of the new rules will amount to less than $2 per month.
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Negotiations toward an agreement on a water-sharing plan for the Chattahoochee River - in the works for eight years - have broken down because representatives from Florida, Georgia, and Alabama have been unable to resolve their differences. One of the main disagreements centers on Georgia's desire to retain more water upstream in Lake Lanier. Florida and Alabama are determined to keep the water flowing south and refuse to give in to Georgia's demands. Resolving the water wars is of critical importance to the ecological integrity of the region, which is home to one of the world's most diverse ecosystems. The rich biological diversity of the river basin is threatened by unchecked urban development, habitat degradation, invasive species, and changes in water quality.
Legislative information taken from many sources including: Congressional Green Sheets, Environment and Energy Weekly, Greenwire, and Roll Call.
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