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Writing in the August 6 "Time" magazine, Molly Ivins described
the scene that awaited President Bush as he headed to his Texas
ranch for his August vacation. One of the rivers near the ranch, the
North Bosque, boasts fecal coliform counts that are 250 to 10,000
times the recommended safe level. The water also has unsafe levels
of nitrates, ammonia and phosphorous. The reason? The county is
home to 250 concentrated animal feeding operations, which
translates to "about 110,000 dairy cows that produce an estimated
1.8 million tons of cow poop a year." Chicken farms in east Texas
and hog farms in the Panhandle are creating similar problems for
watersheds there. During Bush's tenure as Governor of Texas, the
state's Environmental Protection Agency relaxed the rules on
permits and reporting of conditions on factory farms, a decision
whose repercussions may come back to haunt him, downstream.
Defenders Rural Updates! August 14, 2001
Home, Home On The Latrine
As Dubya returns to his ranch, Texas copes with cow dung in the water
For years I have been trying to persuade people that George W. Bush, although
no Einstein, is not stupid. Now comes word he is returning to Texas for most of
August. He could have gone to Kennebunkport, Maine, instead. I give up. If you
put his brain in a duck, it would fly north for the winter.
But it's a dry heat in north-central Texas. Especially since the drought
started. The President plans to spend his vacation on his ranch near Crawford,
a no-traffic-light town. Mayor Robert Campbell says they have been told to
expect Bush and his attendant media horde for 21 to 23 days.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, there's something that should perk up his
interest in environmental issues. Welcome home, Mr. President, there's cow
doo-doo, as your daddy used to say, in the water. Bush's weekend ranch is on
Rainey Creek, which runs into the Middle Bosque River. About six miles away is
the North Bosque River and two counties over is Erath County, home to at least
250 factory dairy farms called CAFOs, for confined-animal feeding operations.
The CAFOs milk as many as 2,000 cows a day, and the county has about 110,000
dairy cows that produce an estimated 1.8 million tons of cow poop a year. The
stuff has got into the North Bosque and its tributary streams, which feed into
Lake Waco, the drinking-water source for the city of Waco. The local water in
Erath County shows increasing levels of nitrates, ammonia and fecal coliform
bacteria. A farmer hired an independent water-monitoring firm and learned fecal
coliform counts in his creek were running from 50,000 units per 100 milliliters
to millions and even billions of units. The maximum is supposed to be 200. The
increased phosphorus downriver threatens the water quality for the whole area.
John Young, editor of the Waco Tribune-Herald, says the water is not fit for
carp. He also says there have been so many taste and odor "events"--the
euphemism for bad days--that the town should fly a green flag whenever the
water tastes like water.
Texas, we are proud to report, ranks No. 1 in the country for animal-waste
production, creating an estimated 280 billion lbs. of manure annually, which is
twice as much manure as California, the No. 2 state, and comes to 40 lbs. of
manure per Texan per day. The state is covered in glory.
In Stephenville, the Erath County seat, there's a fiberglass statue of a cow
named Moola standing by the courthouse; beneath her udder is a sign boasting
that the county sells $220 million worth of milk a year. But milk prices are
sagging, and some dairy farmers are threatening to move to the Panhandle. A lot
of folks wouldn't mind seeing them go. Many of the CAFOs are owned by people
from the Netherlands, who came in droves for the cheap land, high milk prices
and lack of regulation. One result is growing animosity in the region against
the Dutch, which, if you didn't know about the cow poop, might strike you as an
odd development. The industrialization of dairies, a national phenomenon,
mirrors changes in the poultry and pig industries. In the Panhandle, the
problem is pig poop, with exactly the same results, except there they are mad
at the Japanese, who own many of the corporate farms. The pig poop gets into
the playa lakes, round depressions in the high plains, and is starting to
affect the Ogallala Aquifer. In East Texas it's chicken factories.
Other states have passed strict cafo regulations in the past three to four
years, and at least four states have imposed a moratorium on any new CAFOs. But
Texas is famous for not regulating much of anything, especially agriculture.
While Bush was Governor, the Texas Environmental Protection Agency made matters
worse. In 1998 the agency changed the rules so factory-feedlot operators could
get one general permit for a region, and not have to get individual permits or
provide site-specific information. In December 1998 the Natural Resources
Defense Council issued a report detailing how cow manure in central Texas is
poisoning drinking-water supplies by fouling underground aquifers as well as
rivers, lakes and streams. Erath County sits directly on top of the recharge
zones for the Paluxy and Trinity aquifers. That means even well water isn't
safe. The problem was so bad by November 1999 that the state EPA reversed
itself, and increased registration requirements for new CAFOs. There are suits
and countersuits and a lot of hard feelings about this in Waco. The state
legislature just voted $3 million for a clean-up program for a problem that
shouldn't exist in the first place. The nice thing about Texas is that the
problems here are so concrete, as it were. Let the chips fall where they may.
Molly Ivins is based in Austin and co-wrote the best-selling Shrub: The Short
but Happy Political Life of George W. Bush
President making a farce out of 'local control' issue
By GLORIA FLORA in the Missoulian
Local control means that citizens and land management agency employees closest
to the affected land have the most influence over the decision.
Did we miss something - some brilliant stroke of logic that redefines the
meaning of "energy crisis" and "local control?" Despite being used as rallying
cries for significant public lands issues, the Bush administration applies
these terms in contradictory ways, depending on the outcome they desire. That
outcome typically benefits wealthy corporations.
Local control means that citizens and land management agency employees closest
to the affected land have the most influence over the decision. It means
considering everyone's input on how problems can be resolved given the local
circumstances. Locals are residents with at least a modest connection to and
concern for their community and landscape, not just those "born and raised"
there. Local control doesn't mean circumventing or ignoring national
legislation. You can't vote the rest of the United States out of your county.
The reverse is true. Political appointees can't run roughshod over local
opinion circumventing or ignoring national legislation.
In the U.S. Forest Service roadless initiative, over a million comments were
received from the American public, most gathered in over 600 local meetings in
towns in and around national forests. The majority said let's stop paying for
more roads and increasing development when we can't maintain what has already
been developed or damaged. But now we're being told by the Bush administration
that those meetings weren't local enough and all authority for making those
decisions needs to stay with the local forest supervisor. No national policy
will dictate whether roads will be built on unroaded public lands.
As a former forest supervisor, I've watched local citizens and national forests
waste time and millions of dollars struggling over roadless areas for 20-plus
years without resolution. It's past time for a national policy. Limited public
resources would be better spent on restoration and improved management in
roaded areas. If a road hasn't been built in a particular place since the
Forest Service was established over a hundred years ago, there's likely not
much need for one.
Then there's energy, specifically oil and gas development on national forests.
Same administration, same public land, same locals, same forest supervisors.
Same logic? No way. Bush's energy plan codifies the opposite. Besides ignoring
significant environmental laws, the House bill specifically prohibits local
citizens and local forest supervisors from making energy development decisions.
But locals are the only ones who know enough about local lands to make road
development decisions? It doesn't make any sense...until you follow the money.
The excuse is the "energy crisis." Natural gas prices continue to decline
because of there's no lack of production. Barrons just featured "The Coming
Energy Glut" on its front page. In the past year, rather than invest in new
technology and increased efficiencies, petroleum-based companies bought up
their own stock while prices were low, then choked supply. They are now
enjoying windfall profits based on the illusion that is an "energy crisis." It
also worked for electric companies servicing California.
The Wall Street Journal reports, front page, that the largest problem facing
energy companies is what to do with all the extra money they have. The big
companies have more money in the bank - in accrued capital, not including
investments, assets and projected revenues - than most countries. Royal Dutch
Shell alone has $11 billion it doesn't know what to do with, even after making
campaign contributions. According to the article, the reason more exploration
is desirable is that related subsidies, incentives and tax credits generate
more money than bank interest. Hard to believe, but the new energy bill ensures
$36.4 billion in tax breaks and subsidies for the energy industry. And it also
simultaneously seeks to reduce their royalty payments.
The Bush administration's definitions are becoming clear. "Local control" means
the "locals" can be placated by thinking they have control of public lands if
you let them keep the same ability they've always had - to debate road-building
on lands that either are too difficult to road or lack reason to road. If
people are that gullible then you can tell them there's an "energy crisis," and
they'll relinquish "local control" to the energy industry to dictate where,
when and how their children's heritage is despoiled.
It's time to revise the dictionary.
Gloria Flora of Helena is a former national forest supervisor, now executive
director of Sustainable Obtainable Solutions - a nonprofit organization
dedicated to sustaining public lands and the communities that depend on them.
http://www.missoulian.com/display/inn_news/Opinion/opinion93.txt
A coalition of about 50 Wyoming tourism businesses is sending a
letter to U.S. President Bush today, asking the administration to
reconsider its plans to drill for oil and gas near Yellowstone
National Park and other scenic attractions in the state. The Bush
administration has claimed it is all about listening to locals and
that its energy plans would benefit them. But the businesses are
saying otherwise. Adrian Doty, co-owner of a guest ranch in Jackson
Hole, Wyo., said, "People want to come to see the wilderness in our
backyard, not drilling rigs."
http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB99903795514696435.htm
 
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