Joni Ernst talks jobs, pipelines, immigration and EVs in Buchanan County

INDEPENDENCE — A retired nurse on Wednesday had a question for U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst about how Iowa can attract more workers.

“It feels like we’re going the wrong direction,” said Kim Kurt, 62. “How are we going to get workers? You hear so much about people not wanting to work, but I know everyone that can work, is working.”

Ernst, who had been at a rural development roundtable discussion on workforce topics earlier in the day in Fayette County, said Iowa currently doesn’t have enough workers.

“I hear from education groups that they can’t find teachers,” Ernst said during the town hall at the Independence Public Library. “Every industry I’ve visited is lacking workers. …

“We are struggling in that area and trying to find a collective response is really difficult right now. We can encourage people to go into these different fields, but I’m not sure which steps we will need to take to get people interested in serving in those (rural) communities.”

“We just aren’t keeping people in our rural communities,” Ernst added. “We don’t have the quality of life or housing that are necessary to keep people in our communities. … We’re looking for answers, but it won’t be immediate.”

Carbon pipelines

Independence resident Ruth Crawford asked the Republican senator what she thought about the carbon capture pipelines being planned in Iowa, with the Navigator pipeline set to run through parts of Buchanan County.

Ernst noted pipeline proposals run through state government and the Iowa Utilities Board, but she said she opposes using eminent domain for the pipelines.

“We’ve had a number of calls from people voicing their concern, and what we do is direct them to their state legislators or utilities board folks,” Ernst said. “I know there are a number of legislators who feel the same way. They don’t believe in eminent domain. I don’t think that’s the right way to do it.”

Immigration

A couple of residents said they were concerned about immigration and the Southern border of the United States.

Ernst said there’s a crisis at the border and an “asylum loophole.”

“We have asylum laws in place for people whose lives are in danger from their government. But all of the individuals are coached by coyotes,” Ernst said.

“When you enter (the U.S.), you tell the Border Patrol you are seeking asylum and, per our laws, we have to take those individuals and process them for asylum and they’re released in the interior of our United States. It’s catch and release. It’s a loophole.”

Ernst also said that she thinks if states along the Southern border want to build a border wall, they should be allowed to do so.

“We have purchased materials to build a wall and a lot of people don’t like that,” she said. “But I was a military engineer and if you block certain areas, you divert a population or people approaching an area.

“If you have that, they can be apprehended by Border Patrol easier. I have a ‘Build It Act’ that would allow states to build a wall if they so choose. If states want to do it, let states do it.”

When asked by The Gazette if she would support eminent domain to build a border wall, Ernst said that’s up to those states.

“Here in Iowa, I don’t like it when governments have to use eminent domain and hopefully we wouldn’t see that along the border,” she told The Gazette. “I think farmers and ranchers would say to use the materials and build on their land.”

Electric vehicles

Other residents raised concerns about the increase in the number of electric vehicles.

Ernst said she was supportive of all energy sources but believes feels consumers should be able to choose.

“I’m an all-of-the-above energy gal,” she said. “Fossil fuels, wind energy, whatever, but it should be market- driven. If they want to install solar panels, good on them.

“(Electric vehicles) don’t pay into our roads at the federal level. There’s a problem in the funding formulas, and we need a formula that has them pay for infrastructure. … The push to EVs is very real, folks. It’s very real.”

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