Shifting program is a political move

In a recent Gazette article, Gov. Terry Branstad's spokesman, Tim Albrecht, said that moving part of Iowa's Section 319 program of the federal Clean Water Act from the state Department of Natural Resource to the Department of Agriculture will “yield more efficient administration of the program” and “get more money channeled into conservation projects on the ground.”

But in a March 15 letter to the DNR, the federal Environmental Protection Agency praised Iowa's 319 program, currently administered by the DNR, as “one of the more effective and successful programs in the region.” The letter also stated that moving the program, as proposed, would cause “inefficiencies” and could “result in duplication of effort and severely increase stress on limited state and federal resources.”

Also, this isn't about “mistrust between farmers and environmentalists.” Iowa farmers care about water quality, too. This is about the Farm Bureau working year after year to persuade a governor to hand over these programs to an elected secretary of agriculture, at the same time they have worked against water quality improvement measures, like Iowa's anti-degradation rules. (They are suing in an Iowa court to rescind these rules, which are designed to stop further degradation of Iowa waters).

Marian Riggs Gelb

Executive director,

Iowa Environmental Council

Des Moines