ebook img

Dead Zone: Part 2 (Oct. 29, 2012) PDF

1.1 MB·
by  
Save to my drive
Quick download
Download
Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.

Preview Dead Zone: Part 2 (Oct. 29, 2012)

TODAYINSPORTS PREP PLAYOFFS: ROUND 2 CHECK OUT HALLOWEEN The postseason continues tonight across the state EVENTS FOR THE ENTIRE FAMILY TODAYIN IOWALIFE PAGE7C:EXTENDEDPREVIEWSOFMETRO’SCLASS4-AGAMES MONDAY,OCTOBER29,2012 | THENEWSIOWADEPENDSUPON | DESMOINESREGISTER.COM | METROEDITION AGANNETTCOMPANY Absentee DEAD AREGISTERSPECIALREPORT AlookatthetensionbetweenIowa’snation-leadingcornindustry ZONE andtheshrimpers,oystermenandcrabbersoftheGulfofMexico ballot Some call for tougher issues fertilizer regulations reported It’s unclear if problems in 2 counties are isolated ByJenniferJacobs [email protected] ©2012,DesMoinesRegister&TribuneCo. Muscatine resident Craig White says a Democratic campaign worker somehow gavehis75-year-oldmothertheimpression thatitwasOKforhertosignhisnameonan absenteeballotrequestformwhenhewasn’t home. It’safelonyunderIowa’svotinglawsto falsifyasignature. “Itshockedme,anditreallyalmostmade mechangemyvote,”saidWhite,aDemocrat. “As far as I’m concerned, my civil rights wereviolated.” Elsewhere, reports of unauthorized ab- senteeballotpaperworkhaveledtoaninves- tigationbytheIowaDivisionofCriminalIn- vestigation. FloydCountyAttorneyNormandKlemes- rud, a Democrat, said the DCI is checking intocasesinhiscountyinwhichsomeoneal- legedlyfilledouttherequestpaperworkfor an absentee ballot without the voter’s con- sentorknowledge.ChariPaulson,theDCI’s assistantdirector,didn’treturnphonecalls SeeFRAUD,Page9A DaveNelsonofNelsonFamilyFarmsandBrokawSupplyrunsafieldimplementdemonstrationofstriptillagenearBoone.It onlydisturbsthesoilbetweenoldrows,placingnutrientswheretheyareneeded.RODNEYWHITE/THEREGISTER HOWVOTERSCOULDBEAFFECTED Iowa preparing report that details DIGITALEXCLUSIVES Iowanswhoreceiveanabsenteeballotinthe mailthattheydidn’tsignpaperworktoreceive, OnlineatDesMoinesRegister. orwhoaresuspiciousofotherformsofelection plans to cut sewage plant runoff com/deadzone: misconduct,areencouragedtocontactlocallaw enforcementofficialsortheIowaDivisionof VIDEOEXPLANATIONSofthe CriminalInvestigationat515-725-2629. issuessurroundingthedead BYPERRYBEEMAN|[email protected] Bylaw,Iowansmustsurrendertheirabsentee T zoneoffthecoastofLouisiana ballotstotheircountyauditoriftheywantto andofscientistNancyRabalais votebyregularballotonNov.6.Ifsomeoneloses herearethingsIowafarmersandotherlandownerscandotoreducethe explaininghypoxiaandits ordisposesofanabsenteeballot,forexampleby flowofnitratepollutionintotheMississippiRiverand,eventually,into effect. notrecognizingitssignificanceandthrowingit theGulfofMexico. But some possible solutions have been repeatedly side-tracked by SEE71PHOTOSfromtheareas away,extrastepswillberequiredonElection cost, political stalemates and uncertainty over what benefits, if any, affectedbythedeadzone. Daytoenablevoting.Pollworkerswillneedto confirmwiththecountyauditorthatno wouldresultintheGulfifmeasurestoreducefertilizerrunofffromfarmfieldsand READSUNDAY'SSTORIESon absenteeballothadbeenreturnedforthatvoter. othersourcesofpollutionwereinplaceacrosstheMidwestfarmbelt. thedeadzone. Scientistssaythosehurdlesmightstillbecleared,providedfundingcanbefound andagriculturalinterests,governmentandothergroupsarewillingtoworktogeth- MOREINSIDE er. IowaStateUniversityresearcherslastmonthreleasedastudydetailingcrop- SOLUTIONS:Findoutwhat Campaign 2012 pingpracticesthatcouldcutfertilizerrunoffbyasmuchas90percent.Andafeder- Iowaagproducersaredoingto Analysis: Obama helpreducethedeadzone. SeeZONE,Page8A Page9A holds advantage in electoral vote hunt Hurricane Sandy Northeast U.S. braces for a beating ByThomasBeaumont AssociatedPress AMES, Ia. — President Barack Obama is poisedtoekeoutavictoryintheraceforthe Landfallinthemid-Atlanticareacouldoccur 270electoralvotesneededtowinre-election, tonight.Majorevacuationsareinmotion. having beaten back Republican Mitt Rom- ney’s attempts to convert momentum from the debates into support in all-important ByAllenG.Breed agement Administrator Ohio, according to an Associated Press andJenniferPeltz Craig Fugate said as Hurri- analysisaweekbeforeElectionDay. AssociatedPress caneSandymadeitswayup WhiletheDemocraticincumbenthasthe the Atlantic on a collision upperhandintheelectoralvotehunt,Rom- NEWYORK—FromWash- coursewithtwootherweath- neyhaspulledeven,orisslightlyahead,in ington to Boston, cities and er systems. “People need to pollinginafewpivotalstates,includingFlor- towns Sunday buttoned up beactingnow.” idaandVirginia.TheRepublicanchallenger againsttheonslaughtofasu- Forecasterssaidthehur- alsoappearstohavetheadvantageinNorth perstorm that could endan- ricanecouldblowashoreto- Carolina,themostconservativeofthehotly ger 50 million people. Fore- nightorearlyTuesdayalong contestedninestatesthatwilldeterminethe casterswarnedthattheNew the New Jersey coast, then winner. Yorkareacouldgettheworst cutacrossintoPennsylvania WhileinatightracewithObamaforthe ofit—an11-footwallofwa- and travel up through New popularvote,Romneycontinuestohavefew- ter. YorkstateWednesday. erstate-by-statepathsthanObamatoreach “The time for preparing Airlines canceled more 270.WithoutOhio’s18electoralvotes,Rom- and talking is about over,” WavesbreakagainstabulkheadSundayintheBrigandsBay Federal Emergency Man- SeeSANDY,Page5A areaofFrisco,N.C.STEVEEARLEY/ASSOCIATEDPRESS SeeVOTES,Page9A High52°Low32° Index Opinion...............11A DAILY Breakingnewsonyourphone DatelineIowa.....4A Comics.............4E-5E $1.00 Partlycloudy. Text"DMRNEWS"to44636(4INFO) Page12A Obituaries....9A-10A Business..................6E forSperieciPnaggdee2tails tosignupforbreakingnewstextalerts. A B C DM-9000212018 Page8A | Monday,October29,2012 MetroEdition | TheDesMoinesRegister DEAD “Everybody wants to manage nutrients the best way. No one wants to KEVIN ROSS, ZONE pay for them to go somewhere else. ... There’s things we can do to help, farmer,of but I don’t know if we ever get to the point that we completely fix it.” Underwood,Ia. IowaStateUniversityresearcherslastmonthreleasedastudydetailingcroppingpracticesthatcouldcutfertilizerrunoffbyasmuchas90percent.HOLLYMCQUEEN/REGISTERFILEPHOTO tytosetandenforcetheir STRATEGIES TO REDUCE THE DEAD ZONE ZONE ownrulesandregulations. Forexample,Minnesota Cleaning water with buried wood chips banscropswithin50feetof ContinuedfromPage1A streambanks.Butthefed- Scientistssaythatbioreactorsareamongthemostpromisingoftechniquestoreducerunoff. eral Clean Water Act does TheIowaSoybeanAssociationisamongthoselookingintotheuseofbioreactorstoeasethe al hypoxia task force not regulate runoff pollu- Gulf’spain.Basically,thesearepitswithwoodchipsorotherorganicmaterial.Aswater joined farmers from tion.Andfewstateorfed- worksitswaythrough,naturalprocessesremovenitrogenfromwater.ISUestimatesthe across the U.S. at ISU’s eral officials have wanted reactorscouldcutnitraterunoffby43percent. Boone research farm, to take on the agriculture where GPS-assisted fertil- lobby,apowerfulforcena- izer application systems tionally, particularly in and other devices demon- Iowa—thenation’stoppro- strated how technology ducer of corn, soybeans, could help farmers save DennisFriestofGardenCity eggsandpork. moneyandminimizepollu- cansometimesget35to45 Farmers insist it would tion. morebushelsanacrewhile be hard to write regula- Inthenextmonthorso, using35to45fewer tions that fit every farm, Iowa’s natural resources pounds of nitrogen per and the laws almost cer- and agriculture depart- acre.RODNEYWHITE/THE tainly would invite long ments will release a long- REGISTER courtbattles. awaited report detailing “Insteadofbeingtiedup plans to reduce fertilizer Rabalais says some incourtforyears,let’sget runoff as well as nitrate farmersworkingthesoilin something done on the and phosphorus pollution the Mississippi River wa- land,” said Iowa Agricul- from sewage treatment tershed are doing their ture Secretary Bill North- plants. best to keep nutrients on ey, a member of the team Environmental watch- theirlandandoutofthewa- draftingthestate’splanto dogshopetheplanwilllead terways.Butshesaidmany reducenitraterunoff.“We not only to cleaner lakes of those are smaller acre- need to focus on what’s and streams in Iowa, but ageoperations. goodforourfarmers.” alsoaddressthestate’srole “If these sorts of best TheIowaFarmBureau asthenation’ssecond-lead- management practices Federationhastakenasim- ing source of nitrates en- could be used across the ilarstand,notingthatfarm- teringtheGulf. board, and everybody ershavetakenstepstore- Nitratepollution,large- workedreallyhardtomeet duceerosionandarebegin- ly the result of fertilizer them—everybody—then ningtousetechnologysuch Source:UsedwithpermissionfromIowaStateUniversityExtensionandOutreach;Woodchip runoff, is carried by the Ithinkwecanmakesome as GPS systems and yield BioreactorsforNitrateinAgriculturalDrainage(2011,PMR1008),byLauraChristiansonand MatthewHelmers THEREGISTER Mississippi River and its progress,” said Rabalais, monitors to help them tributariestotheGulf.The whose research into Gulf more precisely apply fer- result is massive algae hypoxiaearnedheraMac- tilizer. STATENUTRIENT POLLUTION-TRADING blooms,whichdieandcon- Arthur Foundation “ge- GardenCitycorngrow- MANAGEMENTSTRATEGY Ohio,KentuckyandIndianarecently sumeoxygenastheydecay. nius” grant earlier this er Dennis Friest, 66, also AlotofthenitrateflowtotheGulfhas signedthefirstinterstatepollutiontrading HugestretchesofGulfwa- month. “Progress is going opposesthecallfortough- beentracedtofieldtiles,essentiallydrainage programfornutrientrunoff.Basically,ifa ters each summer are un- tobeslowbecauseittooka erregulations.Butheadds: pipesthatcatchrainafteritrunsthrough sewagetreatmentfacility,powerplantor abletosustainaquaticlife longtimeforthistodevel- “We as farmers need to fertilizedsoil.Nitrateconcentrationsinthe othersourceofnutrientpollutionishaving — acondition known as op.” look at lessening our foot- tilesoftenexceedthedrink- difficultymeetingitslimits,itcanpaya hypoxia. At the same time, cli- printontheGulf.” ingwaterstandard. farmertorestorewetlandsortakeother That’s had profound mate change models sug- He’s doing his part. DeanLemkeoftheIowa stepstoreducenitrogenandphosphorus consequences in Gulf gestrainfallchangesmight Friest regularly experi- DepartmentofAgriculture pollutiononhisownproperty.Theresultisa CoaststatessuchasLouisi- maketheissueevenhotter. mentswithdifferentfertil- andLandStewardship netreductioninrunoff,regardlessofwhere ana, where shrimping and Iowa State University izer techniques. In some estimatesthatabout40 itoccurs. other commercial fishing climateresearcherEugene cases,hegets35to45more percentofthestate's23 Forexample,farmerscouldbepaidper- operations are part of a Takle said computer mod- bushelsanacrewhileusing millionacresofcroplandhas haps$500to$5,000yeartokeepcattleout $660 million regional in- elspredictincreasedrain- 35to45fewerpoundsofni- thebelow-grounddrainage ofwaterways,cutfertilizerapplicationsor dustry. fall by mid-century. A 24 trogenperacre. pipes,whichemptyinto Matt installwetlandsorbuffers. Decades of voluntary percentincreaseinprecip- Voluntary efforts such channelsthateventually Helmers actionsbyfarmerstosave itationwouldmean35per- asthoseseemthemostlike- FERTILIZERCUTS dumpintocreeksandrivers. soil and prevent fertilizer cent more water running lysolutions,giventhepolit- IowaStateUniversityagriculturalengi- AmericanFarmlandTrustrunsapilot runoff have failed to sig- through tiled farm fields icalandlegalimplications. neerMattHelmerssaidthestate’splanwill programthatpaysfarmersinsomestates, nificantly improve water andintostreams.A32per- Such an approach in the includeareviewofresearchintowhatfarm- includingIowa,iftheyloseyieldorincome qualityinIowaortheGulf, cent jump would send 80 Chesapeake Bay area, an- ingtechniquescanbestreducefertilizer whenattemptingtogrowthesameamount environmentalists say. percent more water otherdeadzone,appearsto runoff.OthersfromtheIowaDepartmentof ofcornwithlessfertilizer. Some groups are calling through the drainage sys- havehelpedatleastalittle, AgricultureandLandStewardshipandthe fortougherstateandfeder- tems,hesaid. a recent study by Johns FERTILIZERTIMING IowaDepartmentofNaturalResourcesare alregulationstolimithow Susan Heathcote, a wa- Hopkins University and workingonstrategiestolimitpollutionfrom Environmentalistsencouragefarmersto much fertilizer can be ap- ter quality specialist for theUniversityofMaryland sewage-treatmentplants,andonpolicy fertilizeinthespring,withnofallapplica- pliedtofields—andwhen. the nonprofit Iowa Envi- hasfound. questionsrelatedtonutrientmanagement. tions.Theconventionalwisdomisthatless Farmers and their or- ronmental Council, be- But Peter Weyer, a re- nitrogenwouldgetawaywithspringappli- ganizations insist such a lievesitmaybetimetore- searcherattheUniversity REGULATIONS cationsonly.ButNortheynotesthatbusi- strategy is unworkable, in quire fertilizer-manage- of Iowa’s Center for the TheU.S.EnvironmentalProtectionAgen- nessescouldn’tdeliverenoughnitrogen,asit part because farms, crop- ment plans of farmers, HealthEffectsofEnviron- cycontinuestopushstatestosetlimitsfor standstoday,ifallhadtobeappliedinthe ping techniques, soil and similartothemanure-man- mental Contamination, nitrogenandphosphorusforlakes,reser- spring.AndanewISUreportestimates even climate vary from agement plans already re- isn’t sure that will be voirs,riversandwetlands.Thatprogresshas changingfromfalltospringapplications countytocounty. quired of many livestock enough. beenslow.Farmgroupsnotethatthereis wouldreducenitraterunoffbyjust6per- Nancy Rabalais, execu- producers. Hisresearchhasraised littlehardevidencecuttingbackonrunoff cent. tivedirectoroftheLouisi- Craig Cox, senior vice questions about whether willfixthedeadzoneproblem,oreven ana Universities Marine president of the national nitratepollutionfromcorn CONSERVATIONRESERVE reduceitsignificantly. Consortium, one of the nonprofit Environmental fertilizers poses a health EPAreportedin2008thathalfthestates GroupsrangingfromEnvironmental foremost marine research Working Group, agrees threat to humans at levels didn’thaveanynumericstandardsfornitro- WorkingGrouptoPheasantsForeverhave centersintheU.S.,isfrus- that voluntary programs far below the current fed- genandphosphorus.Andthereislittle suggestedthatconvertingmoremarginal tratedbytheslowpaceof aren’t the answer. “We eralstandard. evidencethatthosethatdoarewillingtotell croplandtohabitatwouldhelpcleanwater- progressinIowaandother thinkitshouldbeclearthat “TheMidwestandIowa farmershowmuchfertilizertheycanapply. waysfromIowatotheGulf. farm belt states. She calls solelyrelyingonvoluntary and Illinois contribute a Statelawmakersandregulatorshavesaid ButCongresshassuggestedsharpcutsin effortstoaddresstheprob- approachesisn’tworking,” huge amount of nitrogen theideaofregulatingtheapplicationsis theprograminthenewfarmbill,possibly lem “minimal, ineffective, said Cox. “We’ve been do- thatgoesdownthere,”said deadonarrival,politically. cappingenrollmentat25millionacresin- andstymiedbytheinertia ingthisfor70years.Itisn’t Weyer, referring to the steadof32millionacres,thecapnowin of a complex, multi-juris- enough.” Gulf.“Whatdoyoudotoat COVERCROPS place. dictionalquagmire.” Statesdohavetheabili- leastputthebrakeson?” “Wethinkcutstoconservationprograms Biologistsforyearshavesuggestedthat areunnecessary,unwiseandcouldn’tcome farmersplanthay,oats,barley,ryeandother ataworsetime,”saidCraigCox,theEnviron- cropstoholdsoilwhencornandsoybeans mentalWorkingGroupvicepresident.“We aren’tgrowing.“Theyaren’tveryprevalent,” areputtingunprecedentedpressureonsoil, saidBillNorthey.However,thestate’sagri- waterandfarmland.” culturesecretary,whofarmsinDickinson CoxsaidIowa’sCRPacresfellto1.65 County,saidinterestmaybegrowing. millionthisyear,downfrom1.97millionin Covercropscanreducenitraterunoff 2007.Atthesametime,Iowalost1.5million sharply,IowaStateUniversityresearchers acresofgrasslandandwetlands. found.Datareleasedearlierthismonthsaid ISUestimateswetlandsontheedgeof plantingryeaftercornisharvestedwould fieldscutnitraterunoffby52percent;buff- cutnitrogenrunoffby31percent.Farmers erscouldcutitby91percent. oftenkillthecropwithchemicalsandletthe Convertingfieldstograssesandthelike organicmatterworkintothesoilwhenit’s permanentlywouldreducetherunoffby85 timetoplantcornorsoybeans.Somegraze percent,ISUresearchersestimated. cattleontheland. Acombinationofseveralconservation “Wewouldliketogetsomemoneytoget practicesonthesamefarmmightbethebest peopletodosomeofthesepractices,” approach,theysaid. Northeysaid. ThisisaHagieManufacturingboomforsidedressingliquidnitrogenlaterintheseason, seenattheIowaStateBioCenturyResearchFarmnearBoone.RODNEYWHITE/THEREGISTER

See more

The list of books you might like

Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.