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EPA 
Fri Sep 09, 2011 at 11:19:37 AM PDT
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Originally posted on Pesticide Action Network's blog, Groundtruth.
The ecological, economic and agronomic disaster accompanying herbicide-tolerant transgenic crops is by now well known: over 10 million acres of superweeds resistant to Monsanto's weedkiller, RoundUp; farm machinery breaking on RoundUp-resistant pigweed thick as a baseball bat; Monsanto paying farmers to spray their fields with competitors' herbicides; a new generation of transgenic crops in the pipeline engineered to withstand older even more dangerous chemicals like 2,4-D.
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Wed Jul 20, 2011 at 18:21:09 PM PDT
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Last December, almost like clockwork, Republicans sounded the alarm about the out of control EPA. Out of control? What had the EPA suddenly done to earn such criticism? With the recent spotlight on ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the story now makes sense.
On December 1-3, 2010, ALEC held a policy summit in which it brought its troops in line on the issue of "the EPA's regulatory trainwreck." Specifically, ALEC members - which include many corporations that profit from dirty energy (such as ExxonMobil, BP America, and Chevron) - were unhappy that the EPA was attempting to follow the law under the Clean Air Act by regulating greenhouse gas emissions. ALEC sought to frame this effort as "higher prices, fewer jobs, and less energy."
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Mon Feb 14, 2011 at 01:35:13 AM PST
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It's amazing how different my world is from the world the House Ag Committee Republicans live in. You see, I'm constantly ticked at the EPA for not protecting the environment enough. And while I'm worrying about that, our friends on the Republican side of the House Ag Committee are busy yelling about the EPA doing too much! Oh boy. Here's a little taste of what they've been saying lately. And, um, it might be a good idea to call your reps and let them know that you strongly disagree with this. If you want the EPA to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and enforce the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, that is.
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Thu Jan 13, 2011 at 00:45:03 AM PST
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All I can say is: this is going to be a long two years with this guy in charge. Here's what he just said to the American Farm Bureau Federation at their big annual meeting:
"I want to commend the Farm Bureau for taking a strong stance on one of the most significant issues facing American agriculture: the hostile regulatory approach of the EPA. As the new Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, I pledge to hold vigorous oversight of the administration on a number of issues that threaten the livelihoods of our farmers and ranchers.
"I welcome the Farm Bureau's continued efforts to rein in the EPA's aggressive attempt to impose new regulations on agricultural production throughout the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, which has far reaching consequences for the entire U.S. We all support the goal of achieving clean water, but EPA is moving forward with accelerated and questionable regulations without considering the consequences for farmers and rural communities or without considering the ongoing conservation measures our producers are using to improve water quality.
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Tue Aug 17, 2010 at 18:14:42 PM PDT
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Did you know that arsenic pesticides are still legal? The EPA actually tried to ban several organic arsenicals in 2006, but then caved to cotton industry lobbying and decided in 2009 to continue allowing a pesticide called monosodium methanearsonate (MSMA) on cotton. And all this went down without a peep from the sustainable ag community (as far as I'm aware). More below.
UPDATE: One more thought to add to this. The reason why cotton growers were so adamant that they need to use MSMA is because the weeds have evolved resistance to Roundup. With most cotton in the U.S. getting doused with Roundup because it's genetically engineered Roundup Ready cotton, no wonder the weeds evolved resistance. So there's the result. Arsenic. And the biotech industry markets its products by saying that GE seeds result in less pesticide use.
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Mon Jun 07, 2010 at 09:56:34 AM PDT
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Here's the big news:
More than 30 years ago, Congress identified factory farms as water pollution sources to be regulated under the Clean Water Act's permit program.
But under a Bush administration regulation challenged by the environmental groups in this lawsuit, large facilities were able to escape government regulation by claiming, without government verification, that they do not discharge into waterways protected by the Clean Water Act.
Under the settlement reached May 26, the EPA will initiate a new national effort to track down factory farms operating without permits and determine if they must be regulated.
More here. What happens next will determine if the EPA actually is an agency that protects the environment or if, as The Onion suggests, it should just be renamed The Agency.
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Thu Apr 22, 2010 at 15:11:48 PM PDT
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An EPA intern wrote a blog post called "Living Without Meat," recounting her experiences as a vegetarian along with several reasons why giving up meat and/or animal products is a greener way to live. (As a caveat for our blog, I'd like to add - even though the EPA blog post does not - that many of the statistics about the harm meat does to the planet are specific to factory farmed meat and if giving meat up is not an option for you, buying sustainably raised meat directly from a farmer or raising animals for meat yourself are great alternatives to the factory farmed stuff. Also, obviously, cutting down on meat is a happy medium between eating as much meat as the average American and giving it up entirely.)
The EPA blogger concludes:
Regulations can be made to help prevent the effects of meat production, but the easiest way to lessen the environmental impacts is to become a vegetarian or vegan. The vegetarian/vegan alternative can be easily accomplished in today's markets and restaurants.
Then the blog post says:
About the author: Nicole Reising is an intern at the Office of Children's Health Protection. She is a sophomore studying non-profit management at Indiana University.
Editor's note: As stated on the "About" page, "The opinions and comments expressed in Greenversations are those of the authors alone and do not reflect an Agency policy, endorsement, or action, and EPA does not verify the accuracy of the contents of the blog."
Why should this be controversial? The author, who is interning at a place called the Environmental Protection Agency, is advocating action that would protect the environment. Yet the Farm Bureau is all pissed off.
"While this is a position taken by an intern of the agency, EPA should control its blog space," said AFBP President Bob Stallman. "What is written on its blog comes across as its official position toward farmers and ranchers that it regulates and shows a terrible disregard for them and the agriculture industry."
Right. You're just pissed off that the way Big Ag makes money is inconsistent with the needs of human health and the planet and that ultimately you'll be forced to change - whether by the EPA or by Mother Nature.
Note that Stallman is someone who believes that "there is no generally agreed upon scientific assessment of the exact impact or extend of carbon emissions from human activities, their impact on past decades of warming or how they will affect future climate changes."
Below, you can see a few other quotes from a speech he gave in January. This guy's pretty disconnected from the realities of climate change, pollution, and even human health. He's not somebody who should be commanding newspaper headlines, nor should he receive credit for speaking for America's farmers.
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Thu Feb 11, 2010 at 05:18:29 AM PST
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Yet another study has found that exposure to the weed-killer atrazine is associated with a higher rate of a birth defect:
Living near farms that use the weed killer atrazine may up the risk of a rare birth defect, according to a study presented this past Friday [February 5] at the annual meeting of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine in Chicago.
About 1 in 5000 babies born in the U.S. each year suffers from gastroschisis, in which part of the intestines bulges through a separation in the belly, according to the March of Dimes. The rate of gastroschisis has risen 2- to 4-fold over the last three decades, according to Dr. Sarah Waller, of the University of Washington, Seattle, and colleagues. [...]
The researchers looked at more than 4,400 birth certificates from 1987-2006 - including more than 800 cases of gastroschisis -- and U.S. Geological Survey databases of agricultural spraying between 2001 and 2006.
Using Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards to define high chemical exposure levels in surface water, they found that the closer a mother lived to a site of high surface water contamination by atrazine, the more likely she was to deliver an infant with gastroschisis.
The birth defect occurred more often among infants who lived less than 25 km (about 15 miles) from one of these sites, and it occurred more often among babies conceived between March and May, when agricultural spraying is common.
Follow me after the jump for more.
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Mon Sep 21, 2009 at 16:33:52 PM PDT
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President Obama just gave a fantastic gift to Chesapeake Bay this week with newly released draft reports about his executive order to restore and protect the Chesapeake. The draft reports put the EPA in charge of controlling nutrient pollution. Nutrient pollution is the polite way to refer to the problem - it's farm runoff and factory farm waste that are killing the Chesapeake. Another source of pollution is stormwater runoff from nearby cities. No doubt lawn fertilizer is playing a role in the problem. The EPA has already announced that it will fulfill its role in the executive order by expanding its regulation of CAFOs. Hooray to that!
According to the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition:
The draft reports are the first step, with preliminary recommendations. The Federal Leadership Committee will use the reports to prepare a draft coordinated strategy which will be released, with final versions of the reports, for public comment in November. The Administration intends to finalize the strategy in May 2010 but has indicated that some agencies can go forward with actions before the strategy is final.
For more information about the plight of Chesapeake Bay, I highly highly recommend reading the Oysters chapter of the book Bottomfeeder.
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Mon Sep 21, 2009 at 06:00:00 AM PDT
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I saw this report by Kate Sheppard for the Washington Independent on Friday:
Sens. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) and Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) are reportedly considering (sub. req'd) offering amendments to [a major appropriations bill to] force the Environmental Protection Agency to raise the blend level [for ethanol in gasoline] above the current 10 percent maximum as an amendment to the EPA appropriation bill. The corn-state senators would like to see blend limits raised to 15 percent, and E&E reports that it looks likely that the potential amendments would block funding for the EPA if they don't move forward on raising the blend limit. [...]
But the EPA faces opposition to increasing ethanol levels in gasoline from environmentalists, livestock producers, refiners, and other groups. Concerns have been raised about whether most engines can handle higher blends, and recent studies indicate that the use of ethanol may increase global warming. The general impression among opponents of the higher blend is that it doesn't really benefit anyone other than the corn lobby.
I hope Congress will let the EPA make this determination based on all the relevant factors. I understand that senators like to protect major industries in their home states, but increasing the ethanol blend limit isn't even universally good for farmers. As Sheppard indicates, conventional livestock producers could end up paying higher prices for feed.
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Wed Jul 15, 2009 at 18:56:19 PM PDT
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I was Googling around and I stumbled upon this:
CLA board chairman nominates Jay Vroom to EPA advisory group
Jan 3, 2008
CropLife America Chairman Eric Wintemute has nominated CLA president and CEO Jay Vroom to the new ag advisory committee being formed by the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Nominations are currently being accepted by EPA for its Farm, Ranch and Rural Communities Advisory Committee, according to Wintemute, who was acting on behalf of the CropLife board of directors.
"Jay Vroom is eminently qualified to contribute to the function and purpose of this Committee both from the perspective of his leadership of the plant science industry, but also Vroom's broader agriculture experience," he said.
The letter of nomination details Vroom's life-long association with agriculture from his being raised on the family farm in Illinois to the many agriculture issues he has championed on behalf of CropLife America and the global crop science network of CropLife International.
In his nearly 20-year service as CEO of CropLife, Mr. Vroom has served on the EPA's Pesticide Program Dialogue Committee and numerous advisory committees established to support the Food Quality Protection Act.
His family farm was one of the first participants in the soil conservation programs established by the U. S. government in the last century, and Vroom has seen to the continuation of these farming practices today as the principal owner of that Illinois farm land.
That was just the nomination. So did the President of the biotech/pesticide industry group get appointed to the EPA board? Yup.
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Tue May 26, 2009 at 22:27:32 PM PDT
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Mon May 18, 2009 at 04:44:46 AM PDT
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Since AAF is on hiatus until September, I guess he won't mind if I pick up water issues in the meantime...
- India can coordinate a nationwide election for over 700 million eligible voters, yet "the world's largest democracy" doesn't seem to be too concerned with the fact that it still can't ensure access to clean water for its rural poor -
That incredible coordination doesn't translate to the treatment of water. India still lacks sanitation facilities for about 700 million people. On top of that, 200 million don't have access to drinking water. Those that do have no guarantee it is actually safe.
- Great piece from my old hometown paper, The Newark (NJ) Star-Ledger, on the federal crackdown on oceangoing cargo and cruise ships that use our oceans (because they do belong to all of us...) as their illegal waste dumping grounds.
- The Center for Biological Diversity has filed suit against US EPA under the Clean Water Act for failing to recognize the impacts of ocean acidification.
- A "voluntary" (uh-oh...) plan has been struck amongst six Asia-Pacific nations to protect the threatened Coral Triangle.
- The more things 'change', the more they stay the same. EPA has just signed off on 42 of 48 new "mountaintop removal" mining permits. Appalachian Voices provides us a tour of just one such site in West Virginia.
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Mon May 11, 2009 at 22:00:12 PM PDT
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15 years after originally banning the granular form of carbofuran, an insecticide sold under the brand name Furadan, which was so toxic that just one grain was enough to kill a bird - USEPA on Monday finally officially banned use of the chemical in any form on food crops meant for human consumption -
FMC Corp. officials could not immediately be reached for comment. The company said on its Web site that Furadan "remains a useful product, vital to the sustainability of agriculture" and that its proper use "does not create a risk to human health, wildlife or the environment."
It's always great to see corporations attempt to pass of their deadly chemicals as a "sustainable solution", isn't it? While they're at it, maybe FMC Corporation can explain why a google search for 'FMC EPA investigation' brings up 18,500 hits, or why I spent a large percentage of my working life in environmental remediation back in New Jersey at their West Windsor chemical plant?
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Thu May 07, 2009 at 14:00:00 PM PDT
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- A friend of mine has just launched a new project, OrganicNation.tv. She'll be traveling the U.S. and documenting sustainable food and agriculture and you'll be able to see her footage on the site. (For full disclosure, I'm one of the project's advisors.)
- Organic sales grew by 17.1% in 2008, according to a new report by the Organic Trade Association.
See below for more...
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