Iowa’s largest sycamore tree, which is located in a state park near Burlington, was severely damaged by a “suspicious fire,” the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) said in a news release on Thursday. It’s not known if the tree, estimated to be about 350 years old, will survive.
According to the DNR, a visitor to Geode State Park “alerted staff that a tree in the park was burning” on Sunday, The cause of the fire is still unknown.
“We are encouraging anyone who may have information about the fire to contact us,” Park Ranger Andrew Kuckler said.
But comments on proposed changes to DNR regulations filed on Friday by 10 environmental organizations show a bigger threat to the state’s environment than suspicious fires.
As part of her push to restructure state government, Gov. Kim Reynolds signed Executive Order 10 on Jan. 10, 2023. The order created a moratorium on new regulations by state agencies and “a comprehensive evaluation and rigorous cost benefit analysis of existing rules to evaluate their public benefits, whether the benefits justify the cost, and whether there are less restrictive alternatives to achieve their intended goal.”
In its mandated review of existing regulations, the DNR assessed its rules regarding industrial-style concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs). Responding to proposals from environmental groups, the DNR changed requirements for any new CAFOs built near karst terrain. Karst is a porous rock formation, and building industrial animal farms on or near it greatly increases the likelihood of manure leaks contaminating nearby waterways.
In the draft of updated regulations published in September, the DNR was requiring “a 5-foot continuous layer of low-permeability soil, nonsoluble bedrock or a 2-foot synthetic clay liner” for CAFOs in karst terrain.
“While there are costs in complying with the regulations, the benefit to the environment outweighs the cost,” the DNR wrote addressing the cost-benefit analysis of its overall CAFO regulation proposals.
If there were no regulations for the operation and construction of animal feeding operations, greater environmental harms would occur to the natural resources of the state. There would likely be increased medical costs due to poor water quality, including possibly an increased rate in cancer and birth defects. The cost of water quality treatment by municipalities would likely also increase without proper regulations controlling the discharge of manure into waters of the state. Additionally, the lack of regulations would have an adverse impact on recreational and tourism activities in the state. Residents and nonresidents alike visit Iowa’s many lakes and rivers each year, and poor water quality due to the lack of regulations would negatively impact this economically beneficial activity. According to the American Sportfishing Association, fishing in Iowa generates $386 million in retail sales, creates nearly 4,000 jobs statewide, and brings in $24 million in state and local tax revenue.
In October, the DNR submitted its proposed regulations to the governor’s office for review and approval. When the DNR published the proposed regulations again in November, the new rule for CAFOs in karst terrain had been removed.
Writing at Bleeding Heartland, Legal Chair for the Sierra Club Iowa Chapter Wally Taylor explained, “the governor’s ‘Administrative Rules Coordinator’ Nate Ristow blocked the proposed rule, because it would not reduce the ‘regulatory burden’ on livestock producers.”
According to Taylor, “livestock producers and the Iowa Farm Bureau complained that increased protection in areas of karst would have ‘unintended consequences,’ without explaining what those consequences might be.”
“The refusal to adopt appropriate, scientifically-based, and protective rules will harm Iowans across the state,” Michael Schmidt, Interim Executive Director and staff attorney for the Iowa Environmental Council (IEC), said in a statement on Friday. “Environmental regulation should not be about reducing burden, but preventing pollution of our rivers, lakes, and streams. These rules will perpetuate poor water quality.”
The IEC was one of the groups that submitted written comments to the DNR rules-making process on Friday, calling for restoration of the karst terrain rule and better regulation of CAFOs in general. The IEC was joined by Allamakee County Protectors – Education Campaign, Common Good Iowa, Des Moines County Farmers and Neighbors for Optimal Health, Environmental Law & Policy Center, Food & Water Watch, Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, Jefferson County Farmers and Neighbors, Poweshiek CARES and the Socially Responsible Agriculture Project.
In the comments, the groups discuss “the economic costs of pollution from CAFOs, including health care costs from increased cancer rates, water quality treatment costs, and recreational value.”
“Governor Reynolds’ reckless Executive Order is encouraging a rollback of regulations required to protect clean water from Iowa’s ubiquitous factory farms. These industrial animal factories are polluters by design — DNR knows this,” Food & Water Watch Attorney Dani Replogle said in a written statement after the comments were filed. “A failure to protect Iowa’s unique karst regions from their excessive waste will only worsen Iowa’s water quality crisis.”
An analysis of the latest U.S. Department of Agriculture census of agricultural data published earlier this month by Food & Water Watch found that “Iowa’s factory farm industry produces far more animal waste than any other state — 109 billion pounds of manure annually, a 78% increase since 2002 and more than 25 times the state’s human population.”
“Half the state’s waterways are impaired, with over a thousand miles contaminated by agricultural pollution,” the analysis noted.
According to Gov. Reynolds, the review process and the cost-benefits analyses required by Executive Order 10 are about ensuring state government in Iowa is “is accountable to the people it serves.”
“In Iowa, we’re taking a commonsense approach that gets government out of the way and leads to a more robust economy in every community,” Reynolds said when she issued the order.
