Lawmakers tackling hog confinement rules
IOWA - Iowa's white-hot fight over hog confinements reaches a new level today as a panel of state lawmakers decides the fate of a rule that would give the state's top environmental official more power on where the farms are located.
10 August 2006
2 minute read
The Iowa Administrative Rules Review Committee is considering the rule Tuesday afternoon in Room 22 of the Iowa Capitol. The meeting is expected to draw confinement opponents from as far away as Okoboji, and also farm-group representatives.
Environmentalists and opponents of large-scale hog confinements say the rule would give the state more tools to steer the confinements to places where the odor and pollution wouldn't disrupt private homes, public places and the natural landscape.
Farmers counter that the rule would give too much power to Jeff Vonk, director of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, and would leave farmers with a vague idea of how what they need to do to get a
permit approved.
Source: Des Moines Register
