We Need to Protect More Land, Not Less
EWG Executive Director Richard Wiles penned this op-ed in today's St. Louis Post Dispatch. The piece is in response to a recent editorial calling for land to be pulled out from the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), and placed into production.
While the benefit to taxpayers from CRP includes critical elements like creating wildlife habitat, protecting water quality, and defending against agriculture run-off and pollution that greatly contribute to environmental disasters like the Gulf of Mexico 'Dead Zone', there is a major point in the piece that should weigh heavily with those advocating for these lands to be plowed under.
Every year, the land in the CRP provides greenhouse gas reductions equal to taking 11 million cars off the road, based on U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates.
Read the whole op-ed after the jump.
