(Des Moines)– A state environmental panel is taking a close look at Iowa’s livestock law.
At issue is the boom in livestock confinement construction and health concerns and environmental problems. The rule-making Iowa Environmental Protection Commission is now looking for ways it can exert more power over the industry.
Commissioner Donna Buell of Spirit Lake has asked the panel to read the livestock law line-by-line to see what can be done. The commission plans to get started next month.
Iowa is the nation’s top producer of hogs.
Critics of confinments want local governments to have power over where livestock is raised. State lawmakers have refused to give up the control.
(Story from the Associated Press.).
