The Natural Resources Defense Committee is out with a report chiding farmers for building giant animal confinement systems, saying they’re bad for the environment. Mark Lambert of the Iowa Environmental Council says the report confirms what critics have been saying for years about the factory farms. Lambert says studies are showing big manure spills are affecting our drinking water and beaches, and something must be done. Lambert says an owner, whether that’s a small family or big corporate farmer, still can’t just do whatever they please with farmland.The Iowa Environmental Council wants lawmakers to establish a standard for the amount of phosphorus that can be in field-spread manure, and ban open-pit manure “lagoons.”North Carolina is one state undertaking rules just like that. The N-R-D-C report is titled “Cesspools of Shame,” and is available online at www.nrdc-dot-org.
Iowa's Radio News Network
