The moral case for Iowa’s clean energy future

More than once during my 21 years as a minister in Iowa, traveling over rolling hills and through seas of corn bathed in sunlight and gently swaying in the wind, I have reflected on the beauty of God's creation.

Today, seeing rows of wind turbines on the horizon or a farmer's irrigation system powered by solar panels, it is hard not to think about them as vital resources that God has given us to harvest.

In contrast, I have also had plenty of opportunities to think about what happens when we take God's gifts for granted and get careless with our stewardship of creation. In conversations with colleagues across America, I have become keenly aware of the consequences of neglecting our responsibility to care for the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the land we till.

North Carolina is still grappling with damage from thousands of tons of toxic coal-ash waste and millions of gallons of contaminated water that spilled earlier this year from a poorly managed containment pond into a river that provides drinking water for thousands. Accidents like this are stark reminders that our priorities are dangerously out of balance.

As distant as North Carolina may seem, something similar could happen here. While we have made huge gains in transitioning from dirty fuels to clean, affordable forms of energy like wind, coal-burning power plants still account for nearly two-thirds of the state's energy. The end result of the more than 20 million tons of coal burned in these plants every year is millions of tons of toxic coal ash laden with dangerous chemicals such as arsenic, chromium and mercury.

There are more than 40 disposal ponds and landfills in Iowa containing coal-ash waste, and problems have already been documented at a number of them. At the George Neal plant near Sioux City, arsenic exceeding safety limits has been detected in monitoring wells and contamination has been documented in groundwater that flows into the Missouri River. Monitoring data also shows contamination in other Iowa landfills used for disposing of decades worth of coal ash, all of them near rivers or water supplies.

Caring for creation is a fundamental aspect of faith. In the context of cleaning up the messes we have made and preventing new accidents, Iowa must continue down the path it is on. Over the past decade, we have taken the abundance of wind God has given Iowa and harnessed it for power that is both clean and affordable. Iowa now gets over a quarter of its electricity from wind. But we need to do more to ensure that spills like the one in North Carolina are not part of our future.

One way is to ensure that existing coal-ash waste sites are managed safely and appropriately. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) later this year will make a decision about how the nation should deal with the more than 140 million tons of coal ash generated annually - enough to fill a train stretching from the North to South Pole and back. Iowans should support the most protective rules possible, so that the next accident doesn't happen here.

Another way is to support the EPA's Clean Power Plan to reduce carbon pollution from power plants. This plan will increase the amount of clean, renewable energy used in Iowa and will encourage greater energy efficiency, thereby reducing the amount of coal we burn.

We have seen the catastrophic consequences of neglecting our obligation to care for the world God has given us. And we have seen the rewards-in the form of jobs and cleaner communities-that come when stewardship plays a role in our decisions about our energy. Safeguarding our air, our land, and our water for future generations should be a moral imperative. Our faith traditions can help guide the way.

' Rev. Susan Guy is executive director of Iowa Interfaith Power & Light. Comments: director@iowaipl.org.