Iowa water quality rules get unanimous approval

DES MOINES - A state oversight panel that guides water quality efforts in Iowa voted unanimously Tuesday to adopted revised rules that match state regulations with standards established under the federal Clean Water Act.

Members of the Iowa Environmental Protection Commission said the new rules are aimed at improving the quality of Iowa's waterways via better enforcement of livestock operations without going beyond guidelines laid out by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

William Ehm of the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) said the state approach adds 'an extra layer of accountability” for producers with confinement agriculture feeding operations (CAFOs) and open livestock feedlots, but critics bashed the rules as weak, industry-friendly and slanted favorably toward corporate agriculture.

Deborah Bunk of Ames, a member of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (CCI), told a protest rally outside the Wallace State Office Building that the state commission 'has consistently sold our environmental birthright to the highest bidder” and drastically slashed the public comment period.

Opponents who presented the commission with 8,800 signatures seeking tougher enforcement chanted 'shame on them” after Tuesday's action.

Several livestock producers expressed support an approach that balances livestock production with waste management by allowing the inspection and evaluation of nearly 8,500 animal feeding operations on a case-by-case basis rather than adopting a one-size-fits-all approach to regulation.

Matt Deppe of the Ames-based Iowa Cattlemen's Association told commissioners that most livestock producers are good stewards of the land, are 'doing what's right” and are supportive the state proposal requiring them to comply with national pollutant discharge elimination permit requirements.

'There are a lot of people behind me with full stomachs that are here chastising what farmers do every single day,” said Randy Dreher, a hog, cattle and row-crop farmer from Audubon, who lamented a 'disconnect between people who work on farms and those who drive by and make assumptions.”

DNR officials said a state appropriation of $700,000 enabled them to add seven inspectors to a force that now totals 24 with an eye on inspecting all large-scale livestock operations once every five years. They also said new technology allows them to monitor water conditions remotely and the revised rules slated to take effect in October if there are no legislative objections will supplement their efforts.

'It should make improvements,” said DNR Director Chuck Gipp.

State regulators and livestock producers cited a 2010 state law indicating that Iowa standards cannot be more stringent than federal requirements.

The state Department of Natural Resources reached an agreement with EPA officials whereby Iowa would step up its enforcement of clean water standards as they pertain to livestock production as a way to stave off federal takeover of those enforcement efforts. The proposed rule results from a petition submitted by Iowa environmental interests asking the EPA to withdraw the state of Iowa's Clean Water Act authority for failure to regulate large-scale livestock operations.

CCI members have threatened legal action because they believe five of the nine-member Environmental Protection commissioners have financial ties to livestock farming, but DNR officials doubted such a claim would have merit given a recent Iowa Supreme Court decision on a similar issue.

'As written, the rule is vague and leaves too much up to interpretation by DNR officials who often seem more concerned with appeasing the corporate factory farm industry than listening to the thousands of concerned Iowans who weighed in for a stronger rule to protect our water,” said CCI member Rosie Partridge of rural Wall Lake.