The Latest from AgMag

Millions tap into dirty water

Monday, September 21, 2009

USA Today, Michelle Healy
Published January 9, 2002

Millions of Americans have been drinking tap water contaminated with chemical byproducts from chlorine that are far more than what studies suggest may be safe for pregnant women, two environmental groups say in a study. Chlorine is commonly used to disinfect drinking water. When it is added to water that contains organic matter such as runoff from farms or lawns, however, it can form compounds such as chloroform that can cause illness.

Key Issues:

Toxics

Claim: Taxpayers foot electricity bills for Central Valley farmers

Monday, September 21, 2009

Central Valley Business Times

Published May 29, 2007

Some Central Valley farms are paying pennies for the electricity needed to deliver irrigation water, claims a report Wednesday from the Environmental Working Group, which describes itself as “a non-profit, non-partisan organization” that gets the majority of its funding from private charitable foundations.

Key Issues:

Dead zone linked to farm subsidies

Monday, September 21, 2009

New Orleans Times-Picayune, Matthew Brown

Published April 16, 2006

Louisiana's fishing industry faces an uncertain future after the pounding it took last hurricane season, but fishers know one thing is certain: Sometime this summer, a lifeless expanse of water about the size of Connecticut -- maybe a little bigger, maybe a little smaller -- will form off the state's coast.

Key Issues:

Chlorine in water may imperil pregnancies

Monday, September 21, 2009

Los Angeles Daily News, Lisa Mascaro

Published January 9, 2002

Drinking tap water could put pregnant women at higher risk for miscarriage and birth defects in some parts of Southern California, says a report released Tuesday by two environmental groups.

Key Issues:

Toxics

Tap Water

Farmers charged up by electric study

Monday, September 21, 2009

Capital Press, Bob Krauter

Published May 29, 2007

Central Valley farmers are amped up by a study that says they are getting cut-rate electricity from the federal government.

Key Issues:

Energy

First shot in the 2007 farm bill debate?

Monday, September 21, 2009

Delta Farm Press, David Bennett

Published May 4, 2006

In what could be the first significant shot fired in the 2007 farm bill debate, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) has released a report on how Mississippi River Basin (MRB) fertilizer run-off is contributing to a massive oxygen-depleted hypoxia zone in the Gulf of Mexico.

Key Issues:

America Needs a True Renewable Energy Policy

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Finding ways to reduce fossil fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions while producing enough energy to support economic development worldwide is this century’s preeminent challenge. We must meet this challenge while simultaneously reducing environmental degradation, poverty and hunger. The United States must make a sustained commitment to invest in and develop renewable energy sources that contribute to meeting these challenges.

Key Issues:

Energy

Biofuels

Follow The Money

Friday, September 18, 2009

CBS News, Sharyl Attkisson
Published November 16, 2007

New Light Shed on Farm Subsidy Payments

Friday, September 18, 2009

Associated Press (+ over 200 outlets), Sam Hananel and Mary Clare Jalonick

Published June 11, 2007

From Texas billionaires to Washington lobbyists, it's no secret that wealthy people can get federal farm subsidies.

Key Issues:

Cities and farmers fight over water rights

Friday, September 18, 2009

United Press International, Staff Published January 15, 2006

BIG SKY, Mont. -- Environmentalists, fishermen and city officials are challenging the farmers and ranchers who have long controlled water resources in the West.

Key Issues:

Farm Bill Conservation Plan Facing Cuts

Friday, September 18, 2009

Argus Leader, Faith Bremner

Published September 10, 2008

Senate Democrats are about to renege on an earlier plan to give more money to programs that pay farmers and ranchers to protect wildlife habitat and water quality, a spokesman for the Environmental Working Group said Tuesday.

Key Issues:

Tide of Sentiment Shifts in Water War

Friday, September 18, 2009

Traditional Favoritism to Agricultural Interests Is Challenged as Demand Increases

Washington Post, Juliet Eilperin

BIG SKY, Mont. -- A hundred years after the city of Los Angeles and San Fernando Valley farmers battled neighboring Owens Valley for control over water from the Owens River, there's a new kind of water war in the West. From Montana to Arizona to California and beyond, alliances of environmentalists, fishermen and city dwellers are challenging the West's traditional water barons -- farmers and ranchers -- who have long controlled the increasingly scarce resource.

Key Issues:

Conservation Programs May Get Less Money Than Specified in Farm Bill

Friday, September 18, 2009

Des Moines Register, Philip Brasher

Published September 10, 2008

The new farm bill has barely taken effect and the Democrat-controlled Senate is already moving to shrink spending levels for some land-conservation programs, environmental groups say.

Key Issues:

Subcommittee Evaluates Water Law

Friday, September 18, 2009

How well a rewrite of an important federal law related to environmental uses of water is working was expected to be aired Friday, March 24, at a Central Valley workshop. The Water and Power Subcommittee was to examine the impacts of the 1992 Central Valley Project Improvement Act, which reallocated water from agricultural uses and reserved it for environmental purposes as well as setting up a fund to restore fish and wildlife.

Key Issues:

Watchdog Group, Dean Slam Congress For Proposed Conservation Cuts

Friday, September 18, 2009

Mitchell Daily Republic, Seth Tupper

Published September 10, 2008

An environmental watchdog group and a South Dakota outdoorsman slammed Congress Tuesday for proposing legislation that would purportedly slash millions from conservation programs in the recently adopted farm bill.

Key Issues:

Ag Groups Want Water Allocation Change

Friday, September 18, 2009

Capital Press Agricultural Weekly, Chip Power

A handful of the Central Valley’s influential agricultural interests pleaded with a congressional panel to roll back portions of a 14-year-old federal law that elevated environmental uses of water to the same priority as crops. The law in question, known as the Central Valley Project Improvement Act, was amended in 1992 to give environmental uses of water more emphasis.

Key Issues:

Demand Already Exceeds Funding for Conservation Program That Could Suffer Cuts

Friday, September 18, 2009

Mitchell Daily Republic, Seth Tupper

Published September 12, 2008

Hundreds of South Dakotans already are being turned away from a conservation program that could see a pledged funding increase rescinded by Congress and the president.

Key Issues:

Biofuels, Agriculture and the Environment

Friday, September 18, 2009

A slideshow on several key environmental issues.

Key Issues:

Energy

Biofuels

Conservation Cuts in Spending Bills Grab Attention of Environmental Groups

Friday, September 18, 2009

Hoosier Ag Today, Gary Truitt

Published September 12, 2008

Environmental groups are not happy to see the Senate is already trying to cut spending levels for some of the conservation programs included in the 2008 Farm Bill. The Environmental Quality Incentives Program - or EQIP - would reportedly get just over one-billion dollars in 2009 under a Senate appropriations measure.

Key Issues: