The U.S. EPA has failed to control pollution from factory farms and has also been sluggish in determining risks to human health from huge concentrated animal-feeding operations, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office. In recent years, the GAO said, consolidation in the livestock industry has spawned more and more factory farms that have also expanded in size; now, packing some 800,000 hogs or 140,000 cattle onto one property is not uncommon. Such a massive concentration of livestock, the report said, produces more waste in a year than the city of Houston. However, unlike Houston, the farms typically don't treat the waste and instead it sits around in huge manure lagoons emitting air pollutants like ammonia and hydrogen sulfide until it's dumped on neighboring fields as fertilizer or released into waterways. EPA is responsible for regulating all that waste, but so far the agency hasn't put a cap on the amount of air pollution the farms can emit, and in December, the agency actually proposed eliminating a rule that requires farms to report their excessive emissions to authorities.
source: Associated Press, The Wall Street Journal
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Ecoconscious Posted 5:27 am
24 Sep 2008
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guade00 Posted 10:14 am
24 Sep 2008
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mtvyfan Posted 3:55 am
25 Sep 2008
"I am concerned with arbitrary increases in CAFÉ standards and find that they would be counterproductive. It has become evident over the past decade that Americans prefer to purchase larger sports utility vehicles (SUV's) rather than purchasing more fuel-efficient compact cars. Consumers should be free to buy vehicles that meet their family needs in terms of affordability, passenger room, payload capacity, increased safety features and utility. Automakers offer more than 50 models with fuel economy ratings above 30 miles per gallon, but American consumers have not shown an overwhelming desire to purchase these types of vehicles."
Rehberg is the stupidest horses ass! Hybrid technology is in such demand people are on a waiting list for Christ's sake! This just goes to show how out of touch with Americans the Republicans are!
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