The Issue
Environment
Farms and ranches cover more than half of all land in the United States. EWG works to keep the land productive and to protect soil, water and wildlife.
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The Latest on Environment
Chicago Tribune, Andrew Martin
Published April 9, 2006
A new study on Monday found that a relatively small percentage of rural counties – many of them in Illinois – are contributing most of the fertilizer pollution that is creating a summertime “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico, where massive algae blooms snuff out most aquatic life.
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Farm Futures, Jacqui Fatka
Published April 9, 2006
Nitrate pollution in the Mississippi River Basin is a growing problem, creating a Dead Zone downstream for marine wildlife. A new analysis from the Environmental Working Group shows that the problem is more solvable than it ever has looked before if the federal government begins to focus conservation needs in the trouble area.
Read MoreArkansas Democrat-Gazette, Nancy Cole
Published April 10, 2006
Farmers in 15 northeast Arkansas counties are among the top contributors of fertilizer pollution that creates a "dead zone" of more than 5, 000 square miles in the Gulf of Mexico, according to a study released Monday by the Environmental Working Group.
Read MoreNew 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.
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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.
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Reuters
Published May 4, 2006
More than half of US streams are polluted, with the worst conditions found in the eastern third of the country, according to a study by the Environmental Protection Agency.
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Minnesota Pilot-Independent, Babe Winkelman
Published June 19, 2006
What grows larger with each passing summer and is roughly the size of New Jersey? The answer: the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico, one of the world's most dynamic fisheries.
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Peoria Journal Star, Steve Tarter
Published June 25, 2006
It's an area the size of Connecticut that fails to harbor aquatic life in the Gulf of Mexico.
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Aberdeen American, Larry Gabriel
Published August 24, 2006
If you have not heard of it, you will. The mass media is blaming "agriculture" for a predicted increase in the size of the so-called "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico.
Read MoreSt. Louis Post-Dispatch, Bill Lambrecht
Published June 14, 2007
There was hope for a cure down in the Louisiana bayous even as the Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone expanded like a B-movie blob.
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Reuters
Published September 10, 2007
U.S. farmers should be required to control soil erosion and fertilizer runoff from all land eligible for crop subsidies -- which would be a major expansion of "conservation compliance" rules now in place, an environmental group said on Monday.
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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.
Read MoreMitchell 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.
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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.
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Bay City Times, Jeff Kart
Published January 22, 2009
With The New Guy in office, billions, as in dollars, seems to be the buzzword. When it comes to the environment, that money could come in handy.
Read MorePress coverage last week of the latest federal proposals to clean up the Chesapeake Bay was good. But, an important piece of the puzzle was missing from the discussion.
Read MoreDespite a quarter of a century of effort by farmers, citizens, environmentalists, and government officials to address pollution in the streams, rivers and waterways of the Chesapeake Bay region, agricultural fertilizers, animal manure and soil erosion remain the watershed’s single largest source of pollution. Without an ambitious effort to fairly but effectively regulate pollution coming from farm fields throughout the watershed, there is simply no chance that the Chesapeake Bay watershed will recover.
Read MoreA frayed regulatory framework and dependence on voluntary action has done little to mitigate the damage from agricultural activities in the six states in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
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The New Republic, Bradford Plumer
Excerpt:
The Environmental Working Group recently analyzed the House climate bill and noted that the legislation allows farmers to earn credits under the cap-and-trade regime for practices such as low or no-till farming even if they've been going on since 2001.
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Des Moines Register, Phil Brasher
Excerpt:
A bill passed by the House last month would set caps on greenhouse gases and require polluters to have permits for their emissions.
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