CHALLENGE TO CAFO MASTER MATRIX
Administrative Rules Review Committee meeting will be Friday, Feb 21 at 8:45
AM. at the Capitol.

Letter-to-the-editor from Elizabeth Horton-Plasket

Dear editor,

We all know that neighbors have no say about where large confined animal
feeding operations (CAFOs) are built in their communities.

The lack of statewide zoning, the passage of a law exempting CAFOs from
nuisance suits, the passage of a law that prohibits counties from
determining where CAFOs can be built - all prevent communities from having
any say about where these facilities locate.

Last year a livestock law was passed by the legislature that included a
minimal attempt at addressing the social problems caused by the lack of
local control over where these facilities can be built. The provision in the
livestock law, known as the "master matrix," was developed to give county
boards of supervisors input, but not control over, where CAFOs can be built.
Using the master matrix as a county level decision making tool for siting
CAFOs does not completely satisfy commodity groups, community groups or
environmental groups. This is a clear indication that the master matrix is
probably a decent compromise between the stakeholder groups.

The master matrix was developed in a consensus building process, put through
the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) rulemaking process, reviewed by
the Attorney General's office, received extensive public comment, and was
voted on by the Environmental Protection Commission.

Now, at the eleventh hour, a little more than a week before the law takes
effect, some members of the joint Administrative Rules Committee are
considering filing a formal objection to the master matrix. The objection is
that "the master matrix violates the laws' intent."

What this means is if the master matrix is challenged in court, the
objection strips away the presumption of validity that is normally accorded
administrative rules, and forces the DNR to prove the legality of the master
matrix. In essence the legislators objecting to the master matrix intend to
put this public policy solution into the courts, rather than the public
arena where the issue belongs, and destroy a tool that is a compromise
between stakeholders.

The Federal Mediation Service facilitated a consensus process with
stakeholder groups listed in the livestock law to come together and
develop the master matrix. The groups at the table were the Iowa Farm Bureau
Federation, Iowa Farmer's Union, the Iowa Poultry Association, the Iowa Pork
Producers Association, Iowa State Association of Counties, the Iowa
Environmental Council, the Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship,
the Department of Natural Resources, the University of Iowa and Iowa State
University.

For the Iowa legislature [Administrative Rules Review Committee] to consider
scrapping the master matrix before it is allowed to work moves Iowa backward
in policymaking relative to other states, serves to push us back into
conventional methods of resolving the social conflicts surrounding
construction of CAFOs, perpetuates those conflicts rather than addressing
the problem, and disunites the valuable but fragile relationships that were
built between stakeholders during the process.

Why would our legislators want to keep the arguments going, keep tensions
high, and not allow the master matrix to work?

Elizabeth Horton Plasket
Executive Director
Iowa Environmental Council
711 East Locust Street
Des Moines, Iowa 50309
515-244-1194
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