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US postal workers help out with the nation's largest one-day food drive. A union coalition in California advocates for worker rights amidst climate challenges. Livestock waste is polluting 'Pure Michigan' state image. And Virginia farm workers receive updated heat protection guidelines.

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Republicans seek to prevent nearly nonexistent illegal noncitizens voting, Speaker Johnson survives a motion to remove him, and a Georgia appeals court will reconsider if Fulton County DA Willis is to be bumped from a Trump case.

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Some small towns in North Dakota worry they'll go to pot if marijuana is legalized, school vouchers are becoming a litmus test for Republicans, and Bennington, Vermont implements an innovative substance abuse recovery program.

CA emission credits not well received by Midwest farm advocates

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Tuesday, March 19, 2024   

Community and conservation groups in the Midwest worry that a change in California's carbon emissions policy could hurt the quality of life in the nation's heartland. This week, regulators are considering an amendment to California's Low Carbon Fuel Standard. Oil and gas companies would be allowed to offset emissions by purchasing credits from producers of "greener" fuel around the country - specifically, methane captured from cow and hog manure. It coincides with a push to offer government incentives to build anaerobic digesters, the facilities used for this production.

Matthew Sheets, organizer on factory farm and policy development for the Land Stewardship Project, fears it'll lead to more factory farms in states like Minnesota.

"It's mostly a concern about what it's doing to the ag economy, and what it's doing to other farmers," he said.

Supporters of the amendment say their goal is to reduce carbon emissions on a national scale. Many big dairy farms, known as Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, are linked with digester projects. A 2020 report by Food and Water Watch found that, unlike human sewage, hog and cattle waste is not treated - so it can pollute groundwater and blanket downwind communities with a terrible odor.

Critics say those are some of the many effects industrial ag can have on farming communities.
Brenda Brink, with Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, said California's system of emissions credits would allow factory farms to "greenwash" their carbon footprint and put renewable energy, like solar and wind power, at a disadvantage.

"Because it's such a sweet deal, it's pushing more and more production through factory farms. State governments see the sweet deal it is - 'Well, look, it's clean energy.' And so, it's just this huge P.R. thing that is not true," Brink explained.

And officials with the Land Stewardship Project point out the nation has tinkered with scaling up digesters in past decades, but the movement didn't have the same staying power as other forms of renewable energy.


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Michigan law states an animal feeding operation is where the animals will be "stabled, confined, fed or maintained for a total of 45 days or more in a year." (Aaron/Adobe Stock)

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Michigan boasts 11,000 inland lakes, more freshwater shoreline than any other state and tens of thousands of miles of rivers and streams but a new …


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President Joe Biden was in Wisconsin on Wednesday, touting plans for a new Microsoft data center. The visit comes amid new polling data in …

Environment

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Dozens of union members rallied Wednesday in Sacramento, calling on lawmakers to pass a set of bills called the California Worker Climate Bill of …


The Mojave Desert Tortoise is now listed as endangered in California, but is still listed as "threatened" under the federal Endangered Species Act. (Defenders of Wildlife)

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Groups that fight to recover endangered species are praising the California Fish and Game Commission's decision to change the Mojave Desert tortoise f…

Social Issues

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United Way of Connecticut's latest ALICE report found 39% of residents live below the ALICE income threshold necessary to live and work in the state. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

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Connecticut groups are still addressing the pandemic's aftermath. Along with connecting residents to vital services, United Way of Connecticut is …

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It is nearly summer, and time to go to bat for those struggling with hunger in New Mexico. This Saturday, letter carriers with the U.S. Postal …

Health and Wellness

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It's National Nurses Week, and educators and healthcare officials say there just aren't enough of them to go around. A combination of retiring baby …

 

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