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 Iowa’s 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 Governor’s 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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