Citizens’ group alleges conflicts in Iowa water quality rule vote

DES MOINES - One day after a state panel modified water quality rules, a citizens' group that sought tougher standards filed legal action, contending the vote was illegal because five commissioners had conflicts of interest because they stand to financially benefit from weak regulation.

Officials with the Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement Action Fund said Wednesday they filed a complaint in federal District Court.

The group alleges in the complaint that Tuesday's vote on new Clean Water Act rules by the Iowa Environmental Protection Commission was illegal because five EPC members appointed by Gov. Terry Branstad 'have a direct financial stake in the factory farm industry and should have recused themselves from the vote because they would financially benefit from passing a weak rule.”

The lawsuit asks the federal court to block the October implementation of the state rule and to force a new vote on stronger rules 'without the participation of commissioners who have a direct and immediate financial interest in the outcome,” according to a CCI news release.

'This lawsuit seeks to invalidate yesterday's vote by a commission which consists of individuals who clearly had a vested financial interest in the proposal before them,” said Joseph C. Glazebrook, an attorney representing Iowa CCI Action.

'We believe that when the executive branch of government fails to protect the general public from this type of harm, it is up to the courts to make sure the people's interests are best served by state government,” Glazebrook added in a statement.

Chuck Gipp, director of the state Department of Natural Resources, said Tuesday the agency believes the claim is without merit. He said representatives of the Iowa Attorney General's Office were present at the meeting and are prepared to defend the commission's action. He said Iowa law prescribes that some commission members be selected from various sectors impacted by environmental policy and a recent Iowa Supreme Court decision on a similar challenge upheld the commission's decision.

'Under their interpretation of the rule, there wouldn't be a teacher that's in the Legislature that would be able to vote for an allowable growth. There wouldn't be a farmer out there that would be able to vote for the ag and natural resources budget because it had cost share for farming practices in there,” Gipp said. 'You just can't do that. The court's been clear on this one aspect.”

However, Iowa CCI Action Fund members and their legal counsel contend a recent Iowa Supreme Court ruling in a case brought by the Iowa Farm Bureau against former EPC members is not relevant to their litigation because the justices ruled on 'viewpoint bias” and did not consider the question of direct and immediate financial gain.

In their unanimous vote Tuesday, EPC members 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.

According to CCI, the proposed state rule that now goes before the Legislature's Administrative Rules Review Committee gives the DNR authority to issue permits for large-scale livestock feeding operations under stronger environmental standards. But the opponents contend the proposed modifications are vague, weak and give DNR officials 'too much discretion over permitting decisions rather than mandating clear and objective criteria to permit the entire industry.”

CCI contends the five commissioners the organization claims have 'direct financial interests in factory farms that would be impacted by the rule” are Gene Ver Steeg, Brent Rastetter, Max Smith, Nancy Couser, and Cindy Greiman.

'Many of them have a long history of manure spills and other environmental violations at their operations, and are tied to industry groups and corporations with a long history of advocating for pro-corporate policies that deregulate environmental protections,” according to the CCI statement.

'Gov. Branstad, for far too long now, has let industry insiders and big money donors run all facets of our government. We are drawing a line in the sand when it comes to clean water for all Iowans,” said Barb Kalbach, a Dexter nurse and fourth-generation family farmer who is president of the Iowa CCI Action Fund.

'Ultimately, what we want is for the EPC and DNR to open this rule making back up, strengthen the rule, and for a panel of commissioners without a financial conflict of interest to approve a stronger rule,” Kalbach added in a statement.