(Radio Iowa) – A House-passed bill to set new guidelines for development of carbon pipelines has been tabled in the Senate, but Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver says the conversation isn’t over. “We’re hearing a lot from both sides and we’ll continue to take that feedback and see if there’s consensus in the Caucus,” Whitver says. “Right now there isn’t.” Whitver is the leader of the 34 member Republican Caucus in the Senate.

“There are just a lot of different opinions and if you look at the different people who are working and interested in this bill, it’s very unique to have Farm Bureau and Sierra Club and Iowa (Citizens for Community Improvement) and Food and Water Watch on one side versus the entire ag industry on the other side,” Whitver says. “There’s just as many opinions as there are (senators) at this point.”

The House voted 73 to 20 in favor of a bill that would have required developers to get voluntary access to 90 percent of the properties along the pipeline routes before eminent domain authority could be used to force the other landowners to grant access to their property. While that bill was not considered in the senate, Whitver suggests lawmakers will continue to discuss how and whether to intervene.

“It is a hot issue, but it’s hot on both sides,” Whitver says. “There’s definitely people that want to see the pipeline happen. They think it’s going to be good for the ag industry. There are people that are very concerned about property rights and so it’s definitely it’s an issue that will continue to come up over the next few years.”

It’s possible the Iowa Utilities Board review of the three proposed pipeline projects will not be completed before the 2024 legislature reconvenes. A recent Des Moines Register Iowa Poll found nearly eight out of 10 Iowans surveyed oppose the use of government’s eminent domain authority to compel reluctant landowners to sign over property along the pipeline routes.

(Radio Iowa) – A bill that would have set a few new ground rules for carbon pipelines has stalled in the Senate. Representative Steven Holt, a Republican from Denison, led debate of the bill in the House, where it passed on a 73-to-20 vote. “The legislation’s one of the most important things we could have done this session,” Holt says.

The bill would have required that 90 percent of a carbon pipeline’s route be secured through voluntary agreements before eminent domain authority from the state could be used to compel other landowners to sign easements. “A lot of concerned citizens across the state of Iowa do not want their property taken for this project — an economic development project and I’m disappointed,” Holt says.

Today (Thursday) is the last day of the legislature’s work week and also the deadline for policy bills from the House to have cleared a Senate committee. Senate Democratic Leader Zach Wahls of Coralville says Republicans who control the senate’s debate agenda could have at least scheduled a subcommittee hearing on the bill.  “I think that if the bill would have come to the floor, it would have had strong majority support,” Wahls says, “so I was surprised.”

It’s possible some of the elements of the bill could be tacked onto a budget bill next month. There’s also a chance state regulators’ review of the pipeline projects might extend into early 2024. Holt says that means it might be possible for next year’s legislature to revisit the issue. “Dynamics can change around here very quickly around here when it’s an election year and people begin to hear a lot from their constituents, so we’ll see where it goes.” Holt says, “My concern about waiting a year, obviously, is that eminent domain could already be in process for some of our land owners, but maybe the process will not be that far along, so we’ll see.”

The proposed Wolf pipeline to capture carbon from A-D-M plants is about 300 miles long and the developer says it’s getting voluntary access to the route and will not need to seek eminent domain authority. The other pipeline developers are expected to ask the Iowa Utilities Board for eminent domain authority to secure easements from landowners who haven’t voluntarily granted access to their properties. Navigator’s pipeline would stretch about 800 miles through 33 Iowa counties.

The Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline would be about 680 miles long and pass through 29 counties. Advocates say the pipelines will make ethanol a low-carbon fuel by capturing and shipping carbon from Iowa ethanol plants to underground storage sites in Illinois and North Dakota.

(Radio Iowa) – An Iowa-based group that aims to help farmers practice a form of agriculture that benefits both the land and the people is working to recruit new members, especially in northwest Iowa. Practical Farmers of Iowa agronomist Sarah Carlson says the issue of water quality is one key area where they’ve determined they can start discussions with potential members.

Carlson says crop rotation, cover crops, and grazing all help to reduce nitrate loss and reduce erosion, which are two of the biggest water pollutants. Some of the older concepts are still very much workable, especially with precision agriculture, which Carlson says has led to a new term, precision conservation.

She says P-F-I works with farmers to diagnose trouble spots, get them out of production and into some sort of conservation project.

(Union County, Iowa) – Officials with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources report the DNR’s Field Office 4 staff were notified Tuesday afternoon of wash water release from an Iowa Select livestock trailer wash facility in Union County.

The release, due to a broken check valve, caused approximately 5,000 gallons of wash water to overflow onto the ground. The wash water reached an unnamed tributary, which connects to Sevenmile Creek. A fish kill did not occur because the unnamed tributary is currently dry.

Iowa Select staff have taken action, including flushing and pumping the wash water out of the area, south of Highway 34 and downstream of the unnamed tributary to prevent wash water from reaching Sevenmile Creek.

The DNR will continue to monitor clean up efforts and consider appropriate enforcement action.

(Radio Iowa) – Farmers are traditionally the first to jump in and help when a neighbor is in trouble, but farmers may be very slow to help themselves, especially when it comes to their mental health and dealing with stress. Dr. Kimberly Lansing, a rural medicine specialist with the Gunderson Health System, says spring planting season looms in Iowa, what may be one of the most difficult times of the year for farmers and too few will seek counseling to cope. “Often, there are worries about a stigma associated with mental health, and people are afraid to seek help,” Lansing says. “Sometimes, they don’t know where to seek help, and so it’s a very interesting kind of plus-and-minus to a farming community.”

A University of Iowa study finds suicide rates were 45-percent higher for people in rural areas, and farmers stood out as having even higher rates compared to the general population. The U-I study found farmer suicide rates for the Midwest were three times the national average. Help is available through a variety of resources, including the Iowa Farm Bureau and the 9-8-8 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. Lansing says farming is an exceptionally difficult career path, with continual challenges from the weather, equipment, labor, and the commodities markets.

“It’s always been this sort of a ‘pull yourself up by your bootstraps,’ you know, we’re the tough American farmer and people depend on us,” Lansing says. “It’s less than 1% of the population that are farmers, and they’re feeding this entire country, so there’s a responsibility that comes with that.” Some farmers have been on the same land for generations and she says nobody wants to be the one who loses the farm. Social isolation can be a real problem for farmers, Lansing says, and we need to learn to lean on each other more.

“People that are close to them, neighbors, fellow farmers, it’s really important when you do see these folks, to really kind of try to pick up on how things are going for them,” Lansing says. “It doesn’t hurt to grab an extra coffee, an extra pastry, and pop by your neighbor’s farm and say, ‘Hey I haven’t seen you in a while. How’s it going?'” Lansing says farmers need to consider how quickly they’d rush to help a neighbor in need.  “And try to give yourself that same amount of compassion and realize that you’re not just a number, you’re not just another farmer, you are part of the whole puzzle,” Lansing says, “and we need you to be there and we need to help you do your best to do what you love to do.”

The Gunderson Health System includes a hospital in West Union, and clinics in Fayette, Decorah, Waukon, Lansing, Postville and Calmar.

w/Kate Olson.

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(Radio Iowa) – Iowa is known for its many thousands of acres of fertile farmland which help to feed perhaps millions of people around the world, and a new report details just how valuable the agriculture industry is to the state. Brent Johnson, president of the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, says the report just confirms what we already know, that agriculture is vital to our state’s economy and identity.

The report says Iowa has 326-thousand jobs that are directly tied to agriculture with an economic impact of more than 96-billion dollars tied to those jobs. When that 96-billion figure is trickled down to Main Street and other industries, he says it quickly more than doubles to nearly 222-billion dollars. Even through the past few years with the pandemic, Johnson says agriculture saw steady gains, and farmers are growing significantly more food on less land.

(Des Moines, Iowa) – The Iowa Department of Natural Resources has released a summary of PFAS testing of public water supplies from October 2021 to December 2022. Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are chemicals used in water-resistant, stain-resistant, and heat-resistant products such as carpets, clothing, fire-fighting foams, non-stick pans, and food packaging. Ingestion of these chemicals may increase cancer risk, affect the ability to become pregnant and interfere with pancreatic, thyroid and liver function. The DNR began sampling public water systems in October 2021 using a tiered system prioritizing locations in close  proximity to potential locations of PFAS storage or use and surface water or groundwater sources at higher risk of being contaminated.

The 116 drinking water supplies tested represent approximately 46% of Iowa’s population. Water samples included both treated finished, or treated, water and raw/untreated water from wells and surface water bodies used for drinking water.  Samples were analyzed for 25 different PFAS compounds, four of which currently have health advisory (HA) levels set by the Environmental Protection Agency: PFOA, PFOS, PFBS, and HFPO DA (also known as Gen X Chemicals). Although one or more PFAS compounds were found in 52 finished water samples, just 15 (12%) of the finished water samples reported PFAS concentrations above the current health advisory levels.

If a PFAS chemical with a health advisory is found at a community water supply in either treated or untreated samples, the DNR will revise operation permits to the public water supply. To date, 20 water supply operations permits were revised to require quarterly monitoring.

This summary report was written prior to EPA’s recent announcement of proposed drinking water standards for PFAS chemicals. Once standards become effective, possibly by the end of 2023, water supplies that exceed the standards in finished water will be required to develop and execute treatment plans. In the meantime, many communities have already adjusted their operations to reduce or remove PFAS.

The DNR will continue to sample PFAS in raw and treated water at public water supplies over the next few years. The Environmental Protection Agency will also require testing of finished water supplies as part of the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule #5, which includes communities with 3,300 or more people and 18 smaller communities, between 2023-25.

The complete summary and results can be found at iowadnr.gov.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa House has overwhelmingly voted to require at least 90 percent of miles along proposed carbon pipeline routes be voluntarily secured before the government’s eminent domain authority could be used to seize the rest. It also would let farmers seek compensation years from now if crop yields are depressed in the area around a carbon pipeline. Representative Steven Holt, a Republican from Denison, is the bill’s lead sponsor. He says the pipelines have generated intense debate around the state and he calls pipeline opponents “freedom fighters.”

“The route of these pipelines in Iowa would impact thousands of fellow citizens, a great deal of farmland and many of our communities,” Holt says. Some of those who voted for the measure lamented that it did not go far enough in protecting landowners who do not want the pipelines on their property. Republican Representative Bobby Kaufmann of Wilton, a bill backer, is blasting pipeline developers and the ethanol industry who’ve been calling for the bill’s defeat.

“When you use government funds to aid your project, when you wish to use the tools of government, such as eminent domain…expect uncertainty,” Kaufmann said. “…The notion that this legislation is going to kill the ethanol industry — there’s a lot of four letter words I could use to describe that and I will not do that — I’ll just simply call it B.S.” Republican Representative Henry Cisneros of Muscatine has the same concerns — but voted against the bill. Cisneros calls eminent domain theft.

“Your government is in a hurry to facilitate this theft so a single corporation can shovel more of our taxdollars into its bank account,” Cisneros says. Representative Chuck Isenhart, a Democrat from Dubuque, says if House members believe carbon pipelines have no public benefit, then the bill should have banned construction. “Don’t put the burden of the decision on a small group of landowners to hold out, resulting — no doubt — in a beseigment if the bill becomes law,” Isenhart said.

Representative Zach Dieken, a Republican from Granville, was a reluctant yes. He says the pipelines a cash cow for developers and he praises landowners who’ve refused to sign voluntary easements with pipeline developers.  “To those actively standing up for yourself and your freedoms, the rest of Iowa and America thanks you,” Dieken said, acknowledging pipeline opponents watching debate in the House balcony. “..I also want to apologize that I couldn’t do more and I’m sorry the government created by God to defend your God given rights was not courageous to do more.”

Summit Carbon Solutions released a statement saying the carbon capture projects will play a critical role in ensuring the long term viability of the ethanol industry and the future of Iowa’s ag economy. The Iowa Renewable Fuels Association says the bill is a mistake that will reduce ethanol production and depress corn prices.

(Radio Iowa) – Volunteers with keen ears are needed to help the Iowa Department of Natural Resources track the state’s populations of frogs and toads — as another way to monitor water quality. Graduates of the D-N-R’s so-called Frog and Toad School learn to identify the critters by their calls, like the Boreal Chorus Frog, the American Bullfrog and the Eastern Gray Tree Frog. Wildlife diversity biologist Stephanie Shepherd says volunteers are most needed in northeastern and northwestern Iowa.

“They are assigned a route, which is basically a collection of wetland sites, and they drive to each wetland site and just stop on the road. They get out of the car and they just stand on the road and listen to the wetland site for five minutes and then they move to the next spot,” Shepherd says. “It’s done at night and people are trained to identify what frogs they hear by their unique calls.” Volunteers will just need to make three trips during the spring and early summer, a total commitment of between eight and ten hours a year. That’s not bad, she says, considering you’re just listening to the pleasant sounds of pond life.

“What we’re listening to is the males’ advertisement calls or attraction calls,” Shepherd says. “So basically, they’re making a lot of noise hoping to let the nearby females, that are of the same species, let them know that they’re there and to come on by for a visit.” The ideal volunteer is interested in the outdoors, detail-oriented, and patient, she says. They’ll also need good note-taking skills and a computer with an internet connection.

“There’s only about 17 species of frog and toad in Iowa, which, that may sound like a lot,” Shepherd says, “but compared to birds for example, which there’s almost 400 species of bird in the state, that’s actually a pretty reasonable number.” She says Iowans have collected data on more than 22-hundred wetlands through the program since 1991, providing an incredible record of activity.

Two in-person courses are scheduled in the coming weeks: April 4th in Clayton County at the Osborne Nature Center, and April 11th in Buena Vista County at Gabrielson Park. There is a $5 fee to cover workshop materials. The courses begin at 6:30 p.m. and run for about three hours.

To register, visit: https://programs.iowadnr.gov/vwmp/Home/Registration