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Bleeding Heartland
It's what plants crave.
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Iowa DNR 
Tue Apr 02, 2013 at 07:15:00 AM CDT
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In an ideal world, evidence that more than half of Midwest rivers and streams can't support aquatic life would inspire policy-makers to clean up our waterways. Rivers that are suitable for swimming, fishing, and other recreation can be a huge economic engine for Iowa communities.
We live in Iowa, where most of our lawmakers take the Patty Judge view: "Iowa is an agricultural state and anyone who doesn't like it can leave in any of four directions."
Yesterday the Iowa House approved a bill to relax manure storage regulations for large confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs). All of the House Republicans and two-thirds of the Democrats supported this bad legislation. Details on the bill and the House vote are below.
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Tue Mar 26, 2013 at 20:40:00 PM CDT
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After testing waterways at about 2,000 sites during 2008 and 2009, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has concluded that 55 percent of rivers and streams in the country are "in poor condition for aquatic life." One of the biggest problems was nutrient pollution from excessive levels of nitrogen and phosphorus. Reduced vegetation cover near streams also contributed to poor water quality. Only 21 percent of U.S. river and stream length was judged to be in "good" condition, with another 23 percent in "fair" condition.
Compared to an EPA survey conducted in 2004, the latest data show a smaller percentage of rivers and streams in good condition and a higher percentage in poor condition.
An EPA summary of the key findings is after the jump. You can find more data on the National Aquatic Resource Surveys here, including this two-page fact sheet (pdf) and the full draft report (pdf). Iowa is part of the "temperate plains" region, discussed on pages 78 through 80 of that report. I've posted an excerpt below. Only 15 percent of rivers and streams in the temperate plains region were judged to be in good condition; 55 percent were in poor condition.
Iowa should reject the all-voluntary nutrient reduction strategy favored by agricultural interest groups. Given the awful state of our rivers and streams, we need some mandatory steps to reduce nutrient pollution, including numeric standards for nitrogen and phosphorus. Both EPA staff and environmental advocates in Iowa have called for strengthening the nutrient reduction strategy. Unfortunately, Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey has a firmly closed mind.
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Tue Mar 12, 2013 at 09:35:00 AM CDT
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Yesterday the Iowa Senate unanimously confirmed eleven of Governor Terry Branstad's appointees. You can find the full list of confirmations in the Senate Journal (pdf). The department or agency heads confirmed were:
Chuck Gipp, who has been serving as director of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources since last May, shortly after his predecessor resigned;
Steve Lukan, whom Branstad hired to run the governor's Office of Drug Control Policy last June;
Nick Gerhart, who replaced Susan Voss as state insurance commissioner at the end of 2012;
Robert von Wolffradt, whom Branstad appointed as Iowa's chief information officer last May.
Seven of the nominees senators confirmed yesterday will serve on state boards, councils, or commissions, including Joanne Stockdale, a former chair of the Iowa Association of Business and Industry who is one of Branstad's appointees to the Environmental Protection Commission.
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Tue Mar 05, 2013 at 20:11:49 PM CST
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I don't cover many science topics here, but this story fascinated me. Scientists have recently confirmed that an "asteroid as big as a city block" created a crater more than three miles wide under what is now Decorah, Iowa. This anomaly would be only the 184th confirmed impact crater on earth, according to an excellent piece by Brian Vastag for the Washington Post. Bevan French, an adjunct scientist at the National Museum of Natural History, announced the discovery last month. His research built on the work of geologists from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources began several years ago. Aerial surveys conducted this year provided more evidence of the meteor crater, Science Daily reported today.
Scientists estimate that the meteor smashed into what is now northeast Iowa approximately 470 million years ago, during the Ordovician geologic period. That's way before the age of dinosaurs--in fact, before any amphibians, bony fish, or reptiles appeared on earth. Quite a few meteors hit earth around this time, probably asteroid fragments created by a "massive collision in the asteroid belt beyond Mars."
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Wed Feb 13, 2013 at 20:35:00 PM CST
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I'm not much of a wrestling fan, but what the heck were members of the International Olympics Committee thinking when they voted to eliminate wrestling as an Olympic sport beginning in 2020? Wrestling is a much more important sport than some other events they're keeping. The IOC is adding golf as an Olympic sport in 2016, but even professional golfer Zach Johnson, an Iowa native, disagrees with the IOC's decision on wrestling. I've posted some Iowa political reaction to this news after the jump. UPDATE: More comments are below; also, Governor Terry Branstad's campaign set up a "keep wrestling" website.
A few weeks ago, Republican State Representative Josh Byrnes made the discovery of a lifetime for a Hawkeye fan: a football signed by Nile Kinnick and other members of the 1939 University of Iowa team. Mike Wiser wrote up the story. Byrnes found the football in the place he's renting with three other Iowa House Republicans during this year's legislative session.
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is training volunteers to help with their wildlife monitoring programs. They are looking for people to identify certain types of bird nests and frog and toad calls. I've posted some details after the jump.
The Great Backyard Bird Count is happening from February 15 to 18. You don't have to be an expert bird-watcher to help scientists collect information about bird populations. This winter we've had more birds at our finch feeder than usual, and I learned they are pine siskins (closely related to goldfinches). They don't always over-winter in Iowa.
This is an open thread: all topics welcome.
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Thu Jan 24, 2013 at 20:30:15 PM CST
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(The author is an organic farmer with a Phd in soil science. He was the Democratic nominee for Iowa Secretary of Agriculture in 2010. - promoted by desmoinesdem)
We have been hearing a lot of hype from Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey about how the voluntary approach to changing agricultural practices to improve water quality -- as proposed in the Nutrient Reduction Strategy (NRS) -- will be effective. However, my experience in over 25 years of work on water quality tells me that this is very naive thinking at best, and deceptive to the public at worst. Below are the comments on the NRS that I submitted a few days ago.
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Fri Jan 11, 2013 at 09:10:00 AM CST
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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency submitted lengthy comments this week on Iowa's draft strategy for reducing nutrients in waterways. I've posted the full text of EPA Region 7 Administrator Karl Brooks' letter after the jump. The EPA found more problems with the "nonpoint source" part of the strategy, which primarily addresses runoff from farms. The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship drafted the nonpoint source part of the nutrient strategy, largely without input from Iowa Department of Natural Resources staff who are experts on agricultural runoff. Under "general comments," the EPA confirmed that rejecting numeric criteria for nutrient pollution from farms "does not reflect the EPA's current thinking." The Iowa Farm Bureau Federation applauded that aspect of the nutrient strategy. We'll see whose view holds sway in the final version.
The Iowa DNR was responsible for drafting the "point source" part of the nutrient strategy, which addresses municipal and industrial discharges (such as from wastewater treatment facilities) into rivers and streams. The EPA submitted only minor suggestions for improving the point source section.
Iowa citizens and advocacy groups have until January 18 to comment on the nutrient strategy.
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Thu Jan 03, 2013 at 15:24:58 PM CST
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(Good news, though it would have been nice for DNR to announce the extension a little earlier. - promoted by desmoinesdem)
In November on Bleeding Heartland, desmoinesdem posted a review of reaction to Iowa's Nutrient Reduction Strategy, which aspires to clean up the nitrogen and phosphorous pollution that together with Iowa's chronic soil erosion is keeping the state's waters brown and green instead of clear and clean.Now the public comment deadline for the new strategy has been extended by two weeks, giving Iowans one more chance to weigh in before the comment period ends January 18.
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Wed Nov 28, 2012 at 10:15:00 AM CST
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State Representative Chuck Isenhart has formally asked Iowa Department of Natural Resources Director Chuck Gipp and Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey to extend the public comment period on Iowa's latest water quality policy. Shortly before Thanksgiving, officials revealed a draft strategy "to assess and reduce nutrients delivered to Iowa waterways and the Gulf of Mexico." The 45-day public comment period falls mostly during the holiday season.
Isenhart, the ranking Democrat on the Iowa House Environmental Protection Committee, pointed out that a 30-day extension of the comment period would allow for feedback from the Watershed Planning Advisory Council and from relevant Iowa House and Senate committees. The legislature's 2013 session will open on January 14, ten days after the current public comment period expires.
Isenhart also suggested that an extension would be fair to stakeholder groups and members of the public who didn't have the "privilege" of reading the draft nutrient strategy before last week. Stakeholders whose leaders got a "head start" on reviewing the policy before the official roll-out include agricultural commodity groups, the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, the Iowa League of Cities, the Iowa Association of Business and Industry, and the Iowa Waste Water Association.
The full text of Isenhart's letter is below. Last month Gipp denied a request to extend public comments on a complex air quality permit linked to a large fertilizer plant construction project.
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Tue Nov 20, 2012 at 09:03:24 AM CST
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Iowa officials formally unveiled a new strategy yesterday "to assess and reduce nutrients delivered to Iowa waterways and the Gulf of Mexico." As the Des Moines Register's Perry Beeman reported last week, the policy related to farm runoff was drafted without input from key Iowa Department of National Resources personnel. Instead, it closely resembles positions advocated by the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation.
The best time to roll out a policy that goes against the public interest is when few people are paying attention. Citizens will have only 45 days to comment on the new Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy. Most of the comment period falls during the Thanksgiving to New Year's holiday season. More details are below.
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Thu Oct 18, 2012 at 23:19:14 PM CDT
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Forty years ago today, Congress enacted the Clean Water Act by overriding a presidential veto. Global Water Policy Project Director Sandra Postel is dead on: "As game-changing laws go, the 1972 U.S. Clean Water Act ranks high."
Though Iowa is still not in full compliance with this law (and may never be during my lifetime), there's still some good news in the links I've enclosed below.
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Mon Jul 30, 2012 at 07:55:00 AM CDT
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An Iowa House member suggested last week that the state Environmental Protection Commission went "beyond the intent of the law" by calling a closed session to discuss a decision related to a hog lot expansion in Poweshiek County. However, a spokesperson for the Iowa Attorney General's Office suggested that a "contested administrative law case that involves legal briefs, hearings, decisions, appeals" qualifies as a circumstance permitting a closed session under the Iowa Code.
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Fri Jul 13, 2012 at 12:50:00 PM CDT
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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency informed the Iowa Department of Natural Resources yesterday that a preliminary report finds the state of Iowa does not adequately enforce the Clean Water Act with respect to confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs).
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