Kerry Spells Out River Protection Plan

[Feanorcurufinwe]

Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry on Monday outlined a plan to curb runoffs into the nation's river systems and put new efforts into restoring wetlands.

Kerry headed to Davenport, Iowa, to announce his clean water proposals on the banks of the Mississippi River, the main drinking water source for 18 million Americans.

In Iowa, 188 waterways are listed on the impaired registry by federal environmental officials, and 140,000 Iowans drink water with nitrate levels above recommended amounts. Kerry argued that 30 years after the federal Clean Water Act was enacted, the nation remains far short of its goals.

The Massachusetts senator said he would create incentive systems for cities along the river to control runoff that is steadily polluting the waters, and would put in place similar incentives for farmers to create buffer strips to control leaking of farm chemicals into rivers.
http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-kerry-environment,0,6304708.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines

If you ask me, Kerry has guts to even bring up the issue of non-point source pollution in farm country.

[tsipple]

1. Controversial with Farmers, Yes

This is some good timing here with the news of the EPA relaxing sewage standards.

[sandnsea]

2. If it's practical and funded

Farmers and ranchers will gladly sign on. These people are connected to the land more than most and know you can't destroy it if you expect it to continue to feed you. Most would be glad to do whatever they could to protect drinking water and wetlands, provided the proposals make sense and funding is provided. There's always the 3 percenters who will complain about anything, but that's not the bulk of responsible farmers and ranchers. In the same way, it's also not the majority of rural gun owners.