Bury a bad topsoil bill in Iowa

It’s bad enough that Republicans who control the Statehouse fail annually to take meaningful action to clean up Iowa’s polluted waterways and address other environmental issues. But what’s worse are state leaders taking an active role in further degrading environmental protection.

This week, the Iowa House sent Gov. Kim Reynolds a bill that would prohibit local governments from enacting and enforcing ordinances requiring builders to replace topsoil on finished construction. Local leaders would be unable to set rules addressing stormwater runoff beyond state minimum standards.

Also, when a development is built on a site, builders need only control runoff based on flow levels before the site was developed. So cities that want to require new development to improve stormwater detention can’t do so. The bill does allow more stringent topsoil and stormwater rules, but only if local governments pay for any measures beyond minimum standards.

So, taxpayers would be on the hook for developers who have little interest in lessening the threat of flash flooding and improving water quality. Water-filtering topsoil can help accomplish both.

The bill was filed by Sen. Scott Webster, R-Bettendorf, a homebuilder and pervious president of the Iowa Homebuilders Association.

Also this week, Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird led a coalition of nine states seeking to overturn a federal rule that requires businesses to report greenhouse gas emissions.

“(President) Biden has, once again, turned his back on the heartland and Iowa farmers with his latest climate scheme,” Bird said in a statement.

Never mind that farmers will bear the brunt of extreme weather conditions made more likely by a changing climate. Iowa is entering its fourth year of drought conditions following more than a decade of epic flooding in parts of Iowa. It’s one of at least a dozen lawsuits Bird has filed against the Biden administration, hoping to make political hay.

So far, Bird has sought court action to derail rules that set out what waters the Clean Water Act covers, which would leave wetlands across the nation exposed to development. She also went to court to stop pension investments in funds that take account a business’s climate impact before investing. Bird and others have dubbed socially responsible investing as “woke capitalism.”

Add this to last year’s legislative action defunding a series of river and stream gauges to measure water pollution levels, and it becomes clear that GOP leaders favor Iowa’s polluted status quo over any measure that would seek rules and laws to better protect water.

We urge the governor to veto the misguided topsoi bill before it can do more harm Iowa’s environment.

(319) 398-8262; editorial@thegazette.com