116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Public hearing: Strengthen Iowa’s CAFO rules in karst areas
Environmental Protection Commission will vote on revision to Chapter 65
A handful of people who spoke at a public hearing Monday want Iowa regulators to strengthen rules for animal feeding operations, especially in the karst topography of Northeast Iowa.
They were commenting on a proposed revision to Iowa Administrative Rules Chapter 65, which the Iowa Department of Natural Resources stripped of additional karst protections last fall after livestock owner groups expressed concerns.
“The reason we have Chapter 65 is to protect the public and the public trust from the worst practices of industrialized agriculture,” Steve Veysey, a retired Iowa State University employee and a water quality advocate, said during the virtual hearing.
“In Northeast Iowa, we have outstanding Iowa waters,” he said. “We have areas of karst that need extra protection. They’re really not getting that protection when these plans are reviewed by DNR staff, not unless there’s a huge outcry.”
Diane Rosenberg, executive director of Jefferson County Farmers & Neighbors, said the Iowa DNR should do the following things to improve oversight of concentrated animal feeding operations:
- Require a 25-foot separation between manure pits and karst terrain to reduce the risk manure will contaminate groundwater
- Create a system to know whether CAFO operations held by separate LLCs are owned by the same people.
- Replace paper manure management plans with digital records that can be more easily studied to see if manure is being overapplied.
When the Iowa DNR proposed a revised Chapter 65 last year, a version released in September required new feeding operations near karst terrain to have a greater barrier between manure basins and the porous soil common in Northeast Iowa.
Agricultural groups, including the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association, Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, Iowa Pork Producers Association and the North Central Poultry Association ask the agency to reconsider previous comments about adding more karst protections.
"We remain concerned about the unintended consequences of the new requirements," the groups wrote, according to an email Kelli Book, with the Iowa DNR Legal Services team, forwarded to agency staff in late September.
The Iowa DNR had asked the Governor’s Office for approval of the Chapter 65 with additional karst protections. On Nov. 7, Nate Ristow, the administrative rules coordinator on Gov. Kim Reynolds’s staff, called Iowa DNR Director Kayla Lyon to tell her he would not approve the new rules because they did not comply with Reynolds’ executive order, which said rules that were revised during a moratorium "must reduce the overall regulatory burden“ rather than adding new requirements, officials said.
On Nov. 8, the Iowa DNR released a new version of Chapter 65 that did not include any additional protections for karst. The Iowa Environmental Protection Commission in November approved that version for rule making.
The Iowa DNR will accept written comments on the proposed rule through Friday at afo@dnr.iowa.gov. The commission is expected to vote in April to approve a final rule.
Comments: (319) 339-3157; erin.jordan@thegazette.com
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