Lawmakers bow to the bulldozer

Senate President Pam Jochum asked a critical question Tuesday as a legislative panel considered the fate of a rule requiring builders to restore at least 4 inches of topsoil to finished construction sites.

The answer was priceless, literally.

The Environmental Protection Commission voted in June to scrap Iowa's measurable standard, replacing it with vague language backed by homebuilding interests and opposed by hundreds of Iowans. Jochum, D-Dubuque, asked Department of Natural Resources Director Chuck Gipp whether anyone analyzed the true cost-benefit of the proposed change.

What's the cost to homeowners with dysfunctional, compacted clay yards after builders scrape away topsoil? How would water quality and flooding be affected by not replacing rain-sponging soil? Had anyone independently verified the costs of soil replacement cited by building interests, or did we simply take their word for it?

'No, we haven't done that technical study,” Gipp said. 'We don't have the ability to do that.”

And that's because from the moment more than a year ago the Branstad administration packed a 'stakeholder” group reviewing the rule with homebuilding interests, to Tuesday's party-line vote allowing the four-inch standard to be scrapped, this has never been about doing what's best for Iowa. It's been about giving a small group of homebuilders what they want, at all cost, at any cost. They wanted a topsoil rule requiring them to do the right thing only if they find it feasible. They got it.

Republicans on the 10-member Administrative Rules Review Committee locked up and denied a seventh vote needed to delay the change and direct the Legislature to weigh in. Six Democrats voted for a hold.

Republicans insisted the new, vague rule mirrors language written by the federal Environmental Protection Agency. It was odd to see Republicans eagerly defer to EPA wisdom, and never mind that the EPA also encourages states to enact more stringent local standards. Iowa, sadly, will not be one of them.

The panel voted 8-1 to meekly forward the issue to lawmakers while allowing the rule change to take effect. You can only guess how excited the GOP House will be to tackle this, or what Gov. Terry 'Bulldozer” Branstad would do with a bill.

I give bonus points to GOP Sen. Mark Chelgren of Ottumwa, who wants a disclosure requirement telling homebuyers that topsoil has been removed. Perhaps Republicans could support a bill aimed at consumer protection and property rights. It's worth a shot.

I've heard from readers wondering why I've bothered closely tracking this issue. I care about soil and water, for one thing. But I also see it as a prime example of how our beloved representative democracy has run off its rails. From start to end, the game was rigged, the common good was ignored and at every important turn elected and appointed public servants forgot who it is they're supposed to serve.

It was noted Tuesday that public comments ran more than 600 opposed to a change to just 60 in favor. As I watched this saga unfold, I kept waiting for that to matter. It never did.

l Comments: (319) 398-8452; todd.dorman@thegazette.com