Environment Archives » Lynda Waddington

13Mar 2019 by Lynda Waddington

Do you share these priorities?

Gazette Column

Unveiled Monday, the Trump administration's proposed budget is an exercise in wrongheaded priorities, repeatedly sacrificing government investment in working-class America. Let me show you. Because this is Iowa, let's begin by looking at proposed budget changes at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Trump administration proposes a 15 percent cut to USDA programs - billions in reductions. Included is a $26 billion cut to crop insurance, $9 billion to voluntary conservation programs, and $5 billion to Section 32 programs that help purchase American commodities in times of need (such as during a self-inflicted trade war.) It perhaps should not be surprising that the Trump administration makes another attempt to reduce food assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, and once again promotes the widely panned harvest boxes. But…

10Sep 2017 by Lynda Waddington

Trump’s top chemical hits keep coming

Gazette Column

Between devastating hurricanes, ongoing Russia investigations and White House staffing musical chairs, it’s been difficult to track policy decisions by the Trump administration. Even so, a handful of recent chemical-related decisions stand out. Environmental Protection Agency Director Scott Pruitt has shunned a recommendation from the American Academy of Pediatrics to ban use of the pesticide chlorpyrifos on food crops. The Academy made the recommendation after peer-reviewed studies determined even minuscule amounts of the chemical can negatively impact brain development of fetuses and infants. For the past four years government scientists have studied three pesticides — chlorpyrifos, diazinon and malathion — and have produced more than 10,000 pages of evidence that these chemicals pose a risk to nearly every critically threatened or endangered species they studied, which included more than 1,800 frogs, fish,…

09Jul 2017 by Lynda Waddington

Get more creative in protesting

Gazette Column

If those opposing a certain political candidate or personality didn’t line up on sidewalks shaking signs and screaming chants, how could they still be seen and heard? Various forms of that question have arrived in my inbox over the past week, responses to a comment I made at the June 29 Pints and Politics event. When asked about protesters during President Donald Trump’s recent visit to Cedar Rapids, I lamented that Iowans against Trump and/or the current GOP agenda weren’t more “creative” and “constructive” in voicing their displeasure. “If we don’t choose to take a stand directly outside or near the venue,” a reader said, “it will appear to the media and the rest of our community that there is no resistance. It will be presented as if all Iowans…

17Oct 2016 by Lynda Waddington

Iowans owe debt to tribes fighting oil pipeline

Gazette Column

When this election is complete, I hope to travel and stand alongside the Standing Rock Sioux. It’s the least I can do for the 300 tribes who are inadvertently fighting for the protection of Iowa farmland while demanding their sovereignty be respected. The massive demonstrations near Lake Oahe in North Dakota began in the spring with a few members of the Standing Rock Sioux establishing a prayer encampment. It’s now blossomed into an international discussion that encompasses climate change, the future of renewable fuels and, of course, tribal rights. [caption id="attachment_87" align="alignright" width="640"] Dakota Access Pipeline protesters square off against police near the Standing Rock Reservation and the pipeline route outside the little town of Saint Anthony, North Dakota, U.S., October 5, 2016. (Terray Sylvester/Reuters)[/caption] It centers on the Dakota…

11Jan 2016 by Lynda Waddington

Vilsack support of Branstad water quality proposal no surprise

Gazette Column

Tax exemptions should be on the table The urban and rural divide is alive and thriving. The response to an appearance this week by former Iowa governor and U.S. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack at Gov. Terry Branstad’s news conference announcing a possible extension and expansion of a penny sales tax now funneled to school infrastructure proves it. Branstad’s proposal is to extend a one-cent sales tax earmarked for school infrastructure and set to expire in 2029. The plan would keep the tax in place for 20 additional years, through 2049. While schools would continue to earn proceeds from that tax to a certain cap point, about three-quarters of future growth would be funneled to conservation efforts that help reduce farm chemical runoff and, in turn, improve Iowa’s water quality. Some…

23Nov 2014 by Lynda Waddington

While you weren’t looking

Gazette Column

Did you get distracted by Congressional Keystone XL discussions? While the U.S. Senate debated a bill approving construction of the Keystone XL pipeline this week, and most major media outlets described how the outcome could impact the Louisiana runoff race for Sen. Mary Landrieu’s seat, members of the U.S. House were taking aim at the EPA’s Scientific Advisory Board. House members passed H.R. 1422, the “EPA Science Advisory Board Reform Act of 2014,” which essentially invites the foxes to help protect the hen house. “… persons with substantial and relevant expertise are not excluded from the Board due to affiliation with or representation of entities that may have a potential interest in the Board’s advisory activities, so long as that interest is fully disclosed to the Administrator and the public …”…

26Oct 2014 by Lynda Waddington

Questions piling up for Joni Ernst

Gazette Column

Joni Ernst seems to be disrespecting quite a few folks. You may have read in our U.S. Senate endorsement that Ernst, Republican candidate for the office, “failed to make time in her schedule” to meet with the Editorial Board at The Gazette. But while Ernst staffers merely strung us along, never agreeing to a meeting time or openly refusing the invitation, we learned Thursday morning Ernst reneged on her promise to The Des Moines Register. She also snubbed The Dubuque Telegraph-Herald, the Quad-City Times and the CBS television affiliate in Sioux City. Even more await an answer. She did meet with the board of the Sioux City Journal and, according to Bloomberg Politics reporter David Weigel, the Omaha, Neb. World-Herald as well. I’ve not heard chatter from the Nebraska interview, but there was noise…

01Sep 2014 by Lynda Waddington

Tar Creek: A case for oversight

Featured, Gazette Column

Visiting the remnants of the Tar Creek Superfund site PICHER, Okla. — The devastation of small towns near the Oklahoma-Kansas state line and at the heart of the Tar Creek Superfund site appears fairly straightforward. In the most simple terms, the problem is as prominent and overwhelming as the mountainous piles of mining tailings, known as chat, which blanket the landscape and dust what remains. [caption id="attachment_1623" align="aligncenter" width="750"] The parking lot for the abandoned Picher Christian Church at 201 S. Netta St. is now overgrown and the building is rapidly deteriorating as of Aug. 23, 2014. Just a year ago, the awning over the church doors was intact. Graffiti is also a relatively new addition to the site. (Lynda Waddington/The Gazette)[/caption] Closer inspection, however, reveals broken promises, shortsighted industries,…

24Aug 2014 by Lynda Waddington

You don’t want to go home again

Gazette Column

The picture tucked into my photo album wasn’t what I expected. In that photo, I’m a little girl, holding a beach ball and snuggled into my father’s bare chest as his feet are covered by sand and the tide in Galveston, Texas. Several of my siblings, all in various poses, are gathered around us. Gary is sitting pretzel style in wet sand. Terrie has one hip out and hands up to shield her eyes from the sun. With one hand on my back and another supporting my beach ball, Cathy smiles directly into the camera. We are sandy, hot and happy in the snapshot. It is one of many family memories, and one I knew would not be recreated this past week when two of my sisters and I traveled…