EPC May 20, 2002
The May EPC meeting began with the introduction of the internees in the
Pollution Prevention Program, which is designed to keep Iowa students in Iowa
and at the same time saves Iowa companies more than 5 million dollars
The Directors remarks followed. Director Vonk said there will be fairly
draconian cuts and he is expecting a tight budged. The Governor signed the
oversight restructuring bill. Liz Christainson is the new Deputy Director,
Wayne Giesselman is the Environmental Services Director. Wayne’s staff will
move forward with the open bureau chief positions
The next comments were about the rule making process in response to the
livestock bill. They need to name appointees for the committee that will
finalize the master matrix. The work of this committee needs to be completed
by early September. This is a potentially contentious process, and they will
be looking for a professional facilitator to keep it moving forward,
The proposed rule for air quality standards will probably be ready in June.
The EPC is meeting off site in June and many groups would want to comment on
this item. They want to finalize their thoughts, then meet with interest
groups and modify their proposal after that input before sending it on to the
commission.
Some think the DNR should not move forward with this rule until the
monitoring program was done. Director Vonk disagrees. He wants external as
well as internal expertise in order to have a good plan available for
purchasing equipment, and he will be meeting with department division
administrators and the chief to work on this.
He has received a phone message from Robert Kennedy Jr., who called to
apologize for derogatory comments he made tabout the Iowa DNR. He said he
was misinformed and thinks the DNR is taking appropriate steps.
Director Vonk believes the DNR is not in as serious jeopardy as other
departments that are fully funded by the general fund. Parking receipts will
pay a major role in how much they will divert to general fund
Camping has not kept up. A free camping weekend had been scheduled to
encourage people to get out and camp. People came to campsites a day or two
early in order to have a campsite for the free weekend, however, from a
revenue standpoint, he thinks the event was revenue neutral as it rained both
weekends.
The DNR needs to estimate how much they can divert to the general fund. They
have not been hiring people or making purchase and may be able to revert
200,000 to the fund. They are not anticipating layoffs or furloughs.
The public comment followed the Director’s remarks
Audubon County : Sherry Clemson and Scott Small, both from Brighton spoke
about a proposed hog confinement to be located in their county. Their
concerns were about the potential impacts on water quality in the ears.
Terraces have been put up and a tile line located there. They don’t know
where the water will go and what the impact on water sources will be. It is
estimated that there will be a 40-60% increase in runoff on the site.
The industrial meat producers listed their site elevation incorrectly. It
was 50’ off. They will be confining
7000 sows and the plan submitted by their engineers show the flow going to a
property they have not yet purchased.
There is also concern about contamination by hazardous substances. The
previous owners of this site have been cited by the DNR for violations in the
past. No testing has been done to find out what the contamination levels are
from the vehicles that have been removed.
The proposed industrial meat production operation will require over 50000 gal
of water per day. The community does not think their area can handle this
amount of draw down.
The industrial meat producer also misrepresented the weight of the animals
that will be housed here. The animal weight capacity should be the sum for
all the animals being confined at the site at capacity and the potential at
that site is 7000 animals.
There are people in the area with health concerns. The DNR can revoke a
permit based on a clear present health hazard. They have letters from
physicians supporting their concern about the potential harm to patients.
The DNR official told the commission that this industrial operative has met
the provisions required for a permit. Any appeal will come back to the
commission. The 50’ discrepancy is not a big deal - as the area is
characterized by rolling hills . There is a difference in the water usage
calculations and the DNR doesn’t understand why there is this difference.
The DNR will not issue a permit until the commission is satisfied. They have
already issued a draft permit and if there is a factual dispute it will have
to be resolved.
This has been under consideration since January and he DNR has looked into it
well.
The petitioners stated that the DNR was not allowed into some of the
buildings and they think the DNR should have access to all of the buildings.
The next item was about the prposed change in the derivation procedure used
to calculate the amounts of ammonia and other pollutants that waste water
treatment systems are allowed to discharge into streams.
I talked about the credibility of the report. It stated that 70 cities
commented , however, when I called Judie Hoffman of the Ames City Council,
she said this item had never been considered by the city council. I pointed
out that they had comments from 70 employees of cities and from the firms
that are occasionally hired by these employees, but that these comments had
not been approved by the cities themselves.
Elizabeth Horton Plasket talked about the misstatement in the same report
that questioned the credibility of the Iowa Environmental Council by
suggesting that their comments did not represent all of their members. The
Iowa Water Pollution Control Association is one of their members and their
positions are achieved by consensus, so the Iowa Water Pollution Control
Association did join with other members of the IEC in opposing this measure,
even though the report stated that the Iowa Water Pollution Control
Association was against it.
She asked that IEC be consulted about such discrepancies in the future rather
than allowing their credibility to be questioned .
Approved final rule for Chapter 106
#8 contract with Metro Waste authority to take hazardous waste from Hardin
County. This means Hardin County doesn’t not have to have all the equipment
necessary. Approved
#9
Approved #10
#11 Middleton with appointment of 2 temporary commissioners for hazardous
waste treatment facility at the Army Ammunition Plant in Des Moines County
The city council has voted to have these people but Jim Braun thinks that it
should be a council person rather than the consultants for this company which
have been approved by the city council
Does not require the commission’s approval.
Lunch
#12
Iowa Water Quality Standards
Procedure used to develop water quality based effluent limits. DNR staff
presented the history leading up to this new derivation proceedure which by
the DNR’s own calculations will allow a 100-372% increase in pollutant
discharge levels. They pointed out that if this were delayed it would have
to go back to the drawing board and other tasks put on hold. When Jim Braun
began talking about the fact that this was sending the wrong message, etc.
Jack Riessen jumped up several times to contradict his concerns, and say that
they were not relevant. He insisted that this increase in the amount that
could be dumped would in no way increase the amount of pollutants released
into Iowa’s waters.
Item 22 was the referral of Iowa Select to the Attorney General because of a
hog confinement manure runofff on September 29th that caused a fish kill in
four mile creek. There were problems with compliance on the manure
management plan and a point of contention about whether the tenant had
permission to make the application. At first it was said that a truck
overturned going over a creek and this caused the spill. A great deal of
time was taken talking about application of this slurry on a hard encrusted
field where it simply ran off. CRP land was sprayed and torn up making dykes
to contain the waste that had been discharged.
Three parties were represented, Iowa Select, Southern Waste Hauling and the
owners of the property.
DNR staff maintained that inefficiency in the waste management plan led to
this problem and that a company cannot contract away their liability.
Iowa Select’s representative pointed out that the company can’t get permits
while fighting enforcement.
The owner of Southern Waste Handling told the commission he took full
responsibility for the accident. It was his first violation and the hauler
acted as quickly as possible to minimize the damage, then, with the agreement
of Iowa Select, reported the spill to the DNR’s voice mail, although in the
training this man had completed he had been given instructions about
reporting it to the DRN hotline. The head of the company pointed out that he
had already purchased the equipment that could have prevented this spill.
The representative for the owners of the land said the owners had not
delegated fertility decisions, that CRP land had been sprayed with waste and
torn up trying to stem the flow to the river and that the waste applicator
did not have permission to enter the property. They used airway injection,
which is not a recognized application method. They have photographs of
puddling two weeks after the application.
They requested that this be referred to the attorney general’s office.
An ICCI representative presented a letter from ICCI pointing out that this
was a 100,000 fishkill and that Iowa Select has had 5 violations since August.
DNR staff repeated that there was a question whether they had the right to be
on the property at all. Reporting was a mutual decision between applicator
and Iowa Select, further evidence of Iowa Select’s tie to the spill.
The Iowa Select representative said that some commissioners have a conflict
of interest and should recuse themselves. When questioned as to specifics he
said that Lisa Davis is the director of ICAN, an organization that opposed
confinement operations. Note: the commissioner in question was not even
present at this meeting. Jim Braun pointed out that this is not legislation
but has to do with a violation.
After some discussion the commissioners decided that this was a dangerous
precedent to set, as any farmer who contracted with an independent operator
might be liable for the negligence of the independent operator under those
circumstances. Lois Glantzman requested a closed session and after the
public was readmitted the commissioners agreed to have this case handled
administratively.
The next item concerned certificatiion of nationwide corps of engineers
permits. They certified them with three conditions.
#14 concerning moneis for wastewater treatment passed
#15 concerning funding for assistance for small businesses in addressing
concerns of the clean air act passed
#16 the insignificant activities passed. This eliminates the category of air
emissions below the level at which action must be taken. The process was
conducted between the DRN and industry representatives. There was no
representative of the public or environmental community present at these
deliberations.
#17 passed. This had to do with air quality and construction permitting.
This process included DNR staff and industry representatives. There were no
representatives of the public or environmental groups. The EPA didn’t like
some of the provisions and they were changed.
#18 also concerned air emissions. This process included DNR and industry
representatives and did not include representatives of the public or the
environmental community. July 26 is the closing date for public comment.
This rule has to do with “fugitive emissions” which are emissions that do not
escape through, for example, a stack. There will be a public hearing July 11
at 10:30 in conference rooms 3 & 4 of the air quality bureau offices. If
this passes into rule it would eliminate reporting fugitive emissions not
listed as toxic emissions when calculating whether the facility is a major
source subject to Title V permit program.
#19 concerned fees to support Title V reporting. It passed.
#20 adjacency for open feedlots no one objected to this clarification and
definition of how close they need to be. Commissioner Priebe is against
this. He thinks the cattleman’s association rolled over and played dead .
It passed with one dissenting vote - that of Commissioner Priebe.
#22 Bee Rite tire disposal referred
#24 This concerns the new fines for fishkills. An ICN hearing has been set
up for July 2nd at 15 locations. It was approved.
#25 concerns rules to implement phase 2 of the storm water program concerning
construction sites pollution prevention control . This would change the
minimum area to one acre where it has been five acres. Industrial sites
would still have to get a storm water permit. Cities with separate storm
sewer systems 100,000 and over have to have permit. This action would bring
that number down as well. There is currently a lawsuit at the federal level
and this will be considered again next month.
#26 monthly report
The next commission meeting will be in West Burlington at South East
Community College at noon. There will be a hearing at 6 or 6:30 pm Monday,
June 16th. The commissioners were told to bring lunches.
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