Fact Checker: Did Blum block clean water rules?

Introduction

'Do you agree that ALL Americans deserve access to water that is clean and safe enough to drink, swim and play in? Surely the answer is yes. But YOUR representative, Rod Blum, voted to block clean water protections for millions of Americans.”

Source of claim: League of Conservation Voters, a Washington, D.C., political action organization, posted this statement on Facebook Jan. 27. Former Iowa Rep. Pat Murphy, D-Dubuque, shared the post. Murphy is a candidate for the Democratic nomination for Blum's seat in Iowa's 1st District.

Analysis

The Clean Water Rule, or Waters of the U.S., attempted to clarify the Clean Water Act of 1972 to say waters such as intermittent streams and wetlands that feed into protected bodies of water also are protected.

The Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers finalized the rule last spring and it went into effect Aug. 28. But there was push back from farmers and business owners who say the rule is confusing, overly restrictive and costly to implement.

Eighteen states challenged the regulation in court, and on Oct. 9, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit granted a temporary nationwide stay against it.

The court stay followed Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst's resolution introduced Sept. 17, 2015, to void the rule completely.

Blum was among 253 members - 241 Republicans and 12 Democrats - of the U.S. House who voted to accept S.J. Res. 22, according to GovTrack.us, a government transparency website that gathers information about legislation and voting.

Iowa's other Republican House members, Steve King of Iowa's 4th District, and David Young of the 3rd District, voted with Blum. Rep. Dave Loebsack, D-Iowa City, opposed the resolution, GovTrack.us reports.

President Barack Obama vetoed S.J. Res. 22 in January and the Senate didn't have enough votes to override.

So yes, Blum did vote to block the Clean Water Rules. But let's examine more closely whether that vote also 'blocked clean water protections for millions of Americans” as the League of Conservation Voters claimed.

The League gets its numbers from the EPA.

'About 117 million Americans - one in three people - get their drinking water from streams protected by the Clean Water Rule,” the EPA reported in June.

The EPA cites a 2009 analysis showing intermittent, ephemeral and headwater streams protected under the Clean Water Rules make up about 61 percent of streams that feed surface drinking water in Iowa. More than 660,000 Iowans depend on public drinking water systems using surface water, according to the EPA.

The EPA bases these numbers on a map showing which Source Protection Areas - areas upstream from a drinking water source - and what share of surface drinking water comes from seasonal streams.

The map was made using GIS to overlay 2006 public drinking water system data and 2009 stream data.

Not every Iowa county has an SPA intake point, which can lead to a 'no data” classification on the map. But in Johnson County, for example, seasonal streams make up 57 to 69 percent of total stream miles, the EPA reports.

An EPA spokesman told Fact Checker the data used for the map are still relevant, despite being up to 10 years old, but didn't specify why. It's likely stream paths haven't changed significantly in recent years and public drinking water systems also may have stable intake points, though it's hard to know this for sure.

But even if the data are slightly different today, it's likely 'millions” of people get part of their drinking water from these seasonal streams, as the League of Conservation Voters reported.

Conclusion

Blum supported legislation to block the Clean Water Rule - as did other Iowa Republicans in Congress. Blum said the rule showed government overreach and would have 'drastic negative implications for agriculture, businesses, and municipalities across Iowa,” according to a Jan. 29, 2015, statement.

Although the EPA data on streams feeding into public water systems are outdated, it's unlikely the stream and water intake locations have changed much since the 2009 analysis. So the league is correct saying millions of Americans would be affected, to some degree, by the protections of the Clean Water Rule. We give the league's claim an A.

Criteria

The Fact Checker team checks statements made by an Iowa political candidate/office holder or a national candidate/office holder about Iowa, or in advertisements that appear in our market. Claims must be independently verifiable. We give statements grades from A to F based on accuracy and context.

If you spot a claim you think needs checking, email us at factchecker@thegazette.com.

This Fact Checker was researched and written by Erin Jordan.