Iowa Center for Public Affairs Journalism (https://iowawatch.org/category/environment/page/2/)
Iowa’s Department of Natural Resources sampled trash from 10 landfills and five transfer stations across Iowa for a study published in December 2017, looking to answer the question, “What are Iowans landfilling?” Tom Anderson, of the Iowa DNR’s Land Quality Bureau and the study’s project manager, has an answer to that question.
Investors may not know the risks climate-related events could have on companies based on public filings, a new report from the Government Accountability Office found. The Securities and Exchange Commission reviews filings to make sure that companies follow federal securities laws in disclosing information to investors. In 2010, the SEC issued guidance on how climate-related information should be disclosed in public filings. But the oversight office cannot fully review the climate-related risks companies disclose in public filings because of inadequate information, according to the independent report publicly released March 22. “When companies report climate-related disclosures in varying formats and specificity, SEC reviewers and investors may find it difficult to compare and analyze related disclosures across companies’ filings,” the GAO reported.
Despite the Trump Administration’s ardent support of coal over renewable energy, the percentage of U.S. electricity from renewable sources continued its gradual rise in 2017.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency lessened protections for crops and wildlife habitats after Monsanto supplied research that presented lower estimates of how far the weed killer dicamba can drift, according to a review of federal documents. In its final report approving the usage of dicamba on soybeans, the agency expressed confidence that dicamba, new versions of which are made by Monsanto and German chemical company BASF, would not leave the field. The registration covered both herbicides, an EPA spokesperson said. “The EPA expects that exposure will remain confined to the dicamba (DGA) treated field,” the agency wrote in the final registration approving the use of dicamba in November 2016. However, drift from dicamba damaged more than 3.6 million acres of soybeans in 2017, according to data from Kevin Bradley, a professor at the University of Missouri.
Midwest U.S. states do not require any buffer zone between schools and crop fields and seldom require any notification that pesticides are about to be sprayed, a review of laws by the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting has found. University of Iowa researchers are analyzing chemical spray drift for advice on such a buffer.
Some evidence suggests that long-term ingestion of drinking water with nitrates at just half that federal limit can prove dangerous to children and adults alike, potentially raising the risk of bladder, thyroid, kidney, ovarian and colon cancers. Iowa is part of the story.
As soybean and cotton farmers across the Midwest and South continue to see their crops ravaged from the weed killer dicamba, new complaints have pointed to the herbicide as a factor in widespread damage to oak trees.
Troubled Water is a 30-minute documentary about drinking water contamination in the United States. The film explores nine locations across the country where water has affected people.
Lynda Cochart did not realize her water in Wisconsin was contaminated with coliform bacteria until she contracted MRSA, an antibiotic-resistant skin infection. Another News21 report that puts farm run-off, including some in Iowa, into perspective.
Most of the 43 million Americans who rely on private wells — some 288,000 in Iowa — don’t know if their water is safe to drink because unlike the regulation of public water systems, there is no government monitoring of wells. Another New21 water quality report, with links to IowaWatch reporting.