Iowa Sierrans:
The 2007 Session of the Iowa Legislature has begun. Sierra Club, Iowa
Chapter, has established a number of top priority issues for our work this
Session.
As a member of the Sierra Club, in Iowa, we are emailing you today to
outline our priority issues and to ask your support and involvement in
achieving success for the protection of Iowašs environment and natural
resources.
If you do not want to continue to receive our emails, please hit 'Reply'
above and ask to be removed from this distribution. We do guarantee you will
not receive these missives too frequently, so we hope you will want to stay
on our distribution.
What follows is the first basic outline of the issue areas these emails
would highlight. From time to time, we will highlight one or more in an
'Alert' fashion asking for your action in contacting your legislators or the
Governor about them. Another guarantee, we will never 'cry wolf' on our
issues!
Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the issues below. We hope
you will want to be a part of the Sierra Club efforts this year to achieve
success from our legislative actions.
Thanks for your kind attention today. And the actions you may take. Now is
not too soon to begin these conversations with your legislators.
Lyle Krewson Debbie Neustadt
Iowa Chapter Lobbyist Legislative Chair
Energy:
Sierra Club has energy policy among its highest priorities (highest
nationally), so we will be pushing for strong policies on carbon reduction,
greenhouse gas emissions, and global warming.
Rep. Donovan Olson, Chair, House Environmental Protection Committee has
appointed a standing Energy Subcommittee, Chaired by Rep. Nathan Reichert.
That subcommittee will meet weekly, and look at all energy related issues to
come to the committee. Reichert has told me they will work on developing,
with the DNR, long term Energy Policy legislation for Iowa. A particular
focus, according to Reichert, is to look strongly at ways to enhance energy
conservation efforts and initiatives in Iowa.
On the Senate side, Sens. Rob Hogg and Joe Bolkcom are leading an effort to
develop a series of energy policies, taken from parts of a comprehensive
bill drafted last year by Rep. Hogg. A special focus will be on issues
relating to climate change, energy efficiency, a state carbon registry and
carbon reduction policies.
Sierra Club will be very involved in all of these issues.
Local control of Siting of Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs):
Sierra Club is very involved in a broad coalition to give counties the
authority to have a local say in the siting of CAFOs, as a quality of life
issue for people residing in areas where CAFOs are sited. This would be in
addition to the statewide environmental standards that CAFOs of a certain
size must meet. This will be one of the most hotly debated issues during the
2007 Session of the Iowa Legislature.
In addition, the separation distances currently in the law to protect nearby
neighbors and important facilities may be re-considered this year.
The House Environmental Protection Committee has begun discussions on these
issues in full committee and in a subcommittee chaired by Rep. Marcella
Frevert. They are meeting weekly for 6 weeks to develop the committee
response on these CAFO issues. Additionally, the local control issue is
reported to be looked at by the House Agriculture Committee chaired by Rep.
Delores Mertz.
Your conversations on these issues with your local legislators will be
crucial to our success.
Sustainable Funding:
Our own Jane Clark, former Chapter Chair, has served this past several
months as a member of the Sustainable Natural Resource Funding Advisory
Committee. This committee was mandated by the legislature during the 2006
session and was convened by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. The
committee was charged with investigating sustainable sources of funding for
natural resources needs in Iowa. Sierra Club Iowa Chapter, Iowa
Environmental Council, Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation, Iowa Association of
County Conservation Boards, Iowa Farmers Union, Izaak Walton League of Iowa,
Conservation Districts of Iowa, Ducks Unlimited, Pheasants Forever, Farm
Bureau, The Nature Conservancy, Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, the
Secretary of Agriculture, and four legislators, made up the Advisory
Committee.
Topics studied included funding mechanisms, funding needs, and willingness
of Iowans to financially support conservation initiatives. The report of
this committee was presented to the Iowa Governor and legislature last week,
and additional time to really complete its work was requested. The Iowa
Environmental Council is leading the coalition in advocating for the
resulting recommendations within the legislature, the Governoršs office,
Iowa media outlets, and the public.
Sierra Club will be very involved in this issue, as appropriate funding for
natural resources has been greatly constrained in recent years.
Septic Tanks:
Senate Study bill SSB 1066 requires septic tank inspections at time of sale
or other property transfer of a building where a person resides,
congregates, or is employed that is served by a private sewage disposal
system to have the sewage disposal system serving the building inspected
prior to any transfer of ownership of the building. At the time of
inspection or within one year prior to the inspection, any septic tank
existing as part of the sewage disposal system shall be opened and have the
contents pumped out and disposed of as provided for by rule.
Working with the Iowa Environmental Council and others, Sierra Club is
supporting this bill.
Cougars and bears:
Sierra Club continues to advocate the addition of cougars and black bears to
the 'Fur-Bearing Animal' list administered by the DNR. This would have the
effect of protecting these species. It would allow the DNR to establish a
hunting season if the species numbers would support that; typically those
two would not, of course. Now, there is no protection for those animals who
do appear in Iowa...obviously in very small numbers; they can be killed with
no recourse by the public, no public protection. Always a person can protect
themselves and property from direct threat.
Sierra Club takes the lead on this issue.
Bottle Bill:
Sen. Dennis Black, Chair of the Senate Natural Resources & Environment
Committee, has indicated an interest in developing a bill to 'solve some
issues' in the current bottle deposit law. Rep. Donovan Olson, Chair of the
House Environmental Protection Committee, has appointed a subcommittee
chaired by Rep. Beth Wessel-Kroeschell, who will look at issues relating to
the bottle deposit law. She has begun subcommittee meetings, and will be
hearing from various stakeholders, before developing a bill. It is likely,
of course, to include the issue of the fee per container that supports the
redemption centers around the state.
Sierra Club supports the Bottle Deposit Law as currently constituted. We
would want to see it expanded to include the redemption of all similar
containers...water, tea, etc., and support the increase in handling fee for
redemption centers.
____________________________________________
Lyle Krewson
Sierra Club, Iowa Chapter Lobbyist
1725 S. 50th Street #602
West Des Moines, IA 50265
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515-238-7113 - Cel
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