Wednesday was a difficult day for The American Independent News Network, which is the larger entity that operates The Iowa Independent. Our chief executive and founder announced two of our sister sites would close and their content would be moved to The American Independent.
A recently introduced bill could have far-reaching impact on the U.S. sugar industry, including American Crystal Sugar, a farmer-owned cooperative that locked out 1,300 Midwest workers on Aug. 1.
The chairman for Herman Cain’s Iowa effort says the campaign “relied more on the word of farmers than Washington regulators” in deciding to run an ad containing claims the Environmental Protection Agency says are false.
The Iowa Senate will remain under the control of a slim 26-25 Democratic majority when it reconvenes in January 2012.
Iowa is joining with 18 other states to fight for the right to set higher vehicle emission standards than the federal government.
Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller announced late Friday afternoon that he will join 18 other state attorneys general in a lawsuit to challenge a ruling by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA ruling, handed down on Dec. 19, 2007, rejected a request for a waiver by California to impose tougher regulations than the federal government on carbon dioxide emissions from new vehicles.
"Here's why this is so important to Iowa," Miller said in a press release Friday, "Under the Clean Air Act, states can adopt rules tougher than the EPA's, but only if California is permitted to do so by an EPA waiver. That's how the federal Clean Air Act is set up — other states can adopt the standards proposed by California. And that is exactly what is under consideration here in Iowa."
According to Miller, California filed a lawsuit on Jan. 2 seeking review of the EPA’s refusal to grant the waiver. Since then 18 states, including Iowa, have filed in support of California’s claim. Iowa and Florida joined on Friday by filing a “Motion for Leave to Intervene as Petitioners” with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco, California.
The motion presented by Iowa and Florida on Friday stated that the two states "recognize that motor vehicles are one of the most significat sources of greenhouse gases that cause global warming. Global warming is already seriously and negatively impacting the public health, economies, and environments of (the two states), and its effects are expected to worsen in the absence of effective abatement prompted by immediate governmental action."
The Iowa Office of Energy Independence recommended in December that Iowa join with other states considering the adoption of California's vehicle emissions standards.
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