Time to Cut the Manure!
Author:
Jun 1, 2021
As we roll into summer, there may be some encouraging news for many of the nation’s waterways as predictions are calling for smaller Harmful Algae Blooms due to an unusually dry spring in many areas. But don’t be lulled into backing off demands that the real problem still must be addressed in a word, manure!
First, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration along with the National Center for Water Quality Research at Heidelberg University have noted the dry spring in the northwest Ohio region, for example, could result in a smaller HAB forecast for Lake Erie during the late summer months, the prime time for HABs to flourish.
Iowa Capital Dispatch
School House Apartments in Fort Madison has solar panels. (Photo courtesy of the Iowa Environmental Council)
More than 750 Iowa homeowners will lose an average of $3,200 each after lawmakers failed to extend a tax credit for solar energy systems.
The homeowners qualified for the credit when they bought their systems, many in 2020, and had legally applied for the tax breaks, said Tyler Olson, a former Democratic state representative who runs a company that sells mostly commercial grade solar energy equipment.
“I’d be upset if I were on that list,” Olson said. “They met the criteria to qualify for that credit. Then the Legislature decided after the fact to take away the credit.”
A proposed high-voltage power line between northern Iowa and southwestern Wisconsin faces yet another legal challenge.
Environmental groups sued the Army Corps of Engineers in federal court Wednesday over its permit allowing utilities to place towers in the Mississippi River for the $492 million project known as Cardinal-Hickory Creek.
The National Wildlife Refuge Association, Driftless Area Land Conservancy and three other organizations say the agency violated federal environmental law by failing to take a âhard lookâ at the environmental consequences of the 102-mile line on public waters and lands, wildlife, recreation and property values.
The EPA is proposing to phase out the production and use of hydrofluorocarbons. Those gases are commonly used in refrigerators and air conditioners and are considered a major driver of global warming. The proposed rule follows through on a law Congress passed back in December. It would decrease U.S. production and use of the
A proposed high-voltage power line between northern Iowa and southwestern Wisconsin faces yet another legal challenge.
Environmental groups sued the Army Corps of Engineers in federal court Wednesday over its permit allowing utilities to place towers in the Mississippi River for the $492 million project known as Cardinal-Hickory Creek.
The National Wildlife Refuge Association, Driftless Area Land Conservancy and three other organizations say the agency violated federal environmental law by failing to take a âhard lookâ at the environmental consequences of the 102-mile line on public waters and lands, wildlife, recreation and property values.
The EPA is proposing to phase out the production and use of hydrofluorocarbons. Those gases are commonly used in refrigerators and air conditioners and are considered a major driver of global warming. The proposed rule follows through on a law Congress passed back in December. It would decrease U.S. production and use of the
Governors Wind Energy Coalition
White House says clean energy standards work. Is that true? Source: By Miranda Willson, E&E News reporter • Posted: Sunday, May 2, 2021
President Biden has called for enacting a clean energy standard, a policy tool deployed across multiple states. MariaGodfrida/Pixabay (solar panels); Gage Skidmore/Flickr (Biden); Gary Norton/NREL (turbines)
Members of the Biden administration said in recent weeks that clean electricity standards similar to what is being proposed nationally have a successful track record at the state level.
But timeline challenges with the standards and environmental pushback in some locations are raising questions whether the plans work as intended.