skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Study Claims Farm Nitrogen Pollution Damage Estimated at Billions Annually

play audio
Play

Friday, June 19, 2015   

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - Farm nitrogen pollution damage is estimated at billions of dollars annually, according to an International Scientific Team study published in the journal Environmental Research Letters.

The study shows agriculture accounts for most of the pollution, said Environmental Working Group senior analyst Anne Weir.

"And the study found that 75 percent of the total cost of nitrogen pollution from all human sources came from farming practices such as spreading fertilizer and manure on farm fields," she said. "This means that nitrogen pollution from farming costs us about $157 billion a year, on average, in damages."

Nitrogen pollution, especially from the Midwest, is suspected of being a source of the growing dead zone off the mouth of the Mississippi River in the Gulf of Mexico.

Weir said the study traced nitrogen pollution to several different sources.

"They also looked at non-farming sources like industrial manufacturing and burning fossil fuels," she said, "so they did go back to the source and look at the cost to various waterways and air-quality measures."

Weir said the Environmental Working Group wants to work with agriculture producers to address this problem.

"For fertilizer, this could mean applying an efficient amount of fertilizer to fields during the period of maximum crop growth," she said. "For manure, we really advocate that farmers don't spread manure on frozen or snow-covered fields."

Weir said EWG is concerned about the damages not only to the environment but also to human health.

The study is online at iopscience.iop.org.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021