Iowa Livestock Air Law Has No Penaltiesby Perry Beeman, Des Moines Register
Iowa has its first limits on air pollution from livestock operations - but the rule has no teeth, and few are satisfied with it.
Those who called for regulations, including Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, say the limits on toxic hydrogen sulfide - a lung irritant from manure that smells like rotten eggs - aren't tough enough.
Others, including the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, say that even those restrictions violate the intent of state law.
The debate over odors and other emissions from large-scale hog confinements and other livestock facilities has bitterly divided Iowans. Thousands of confinement neighbors have packed public meetings in recent years as the Iowa Legislature repeatedly declined to limit gases from the farms. Many said their quality of life was ruined by the emissions, and they feared their property values would be, too.
...Barb Kalbach of Adair County, a member of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, said the limits - which do not cover odor or ammonia from livestock confinements - fall short but are a good start.
"Rural Iowans deserve to breathe clean air free of pollution from factory farms," Kalbach said at a Statehouse rally [in September].
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