EPC should reject topsoil change

Iowa's Environmental Protection Commission is scheduled to vote this morning on a proposal to erase a state rule requiring builders to return four inches of topsoil to finished construction sites. It would be replaced by a vague rule requiring builders to restore topsoil unless 'infeasible,” and infeasibility is judged by the builder. There would be no measurable standard.

We strongly urge the board to reject the proposal.

For starters, putting soil back on lots reduces runoff, helps mitigate flash flooding and improves water quality. These are important objectives we have long supported. Hundreds of Iowans have told state officials of their struggles with dysfunctional yards where topsoil was removed during construction but not returned. Instead, sod is placed on top of rock-hard, compacted clay subsoils that don't soak up runoff.

The revised 'infeasible” rule would allow builders to continue that practice as they see fit. It's bad for the state's environment and bad for homeowners dealing with the damage.

Then there's the shoddy process that spawned the rule change.

Gov. Terry Branstad's administration appointed a seven-member 'stakeholder” panel with a majority of its members hand-picked from central Iowa homebuilding interests who oppose the 4-inch rule. Its meetings were held behind closed doors. Many other interests affected by the change, from homeowners to cities tasked with enforcing stormwater rules, were denied seats at the table. Empowering a packed committee to railroad through a rule change is no way to make public policy, and the EPC should flatly reject it.

We're not saying homebuilders don't have valid concerns about the rule and its implementation. But any effort to revise the rule must be transparent and accessible to a broad range of people and interests with skin in the game. Instead of seeking such an open process, homebuilders and the Branstad administration chose favors and closed doors. The EPC now has a chance, by refusing to approve the product of that process, to hit restart and clean the slate.

And at a time when state officials are working hard to convince farmers to adopt practices that improve water quality, it makes no sense to send the opposite message to urban and suburban builders. Water quality is everyone's responsibility. The EPC has a chance today to send that message loud and clear by voting no.

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