Tuesday at the EPC
Today, the Iowa Environmental Protection Commission (EPC) formally introduced a draft rule that determines which factory farms will need Clean Water Act permits.
Members were at the EPC meeting to hear the rule release and give the peoples' feedback -- but industry representatives were there in support of the rule, too.
Governor Branstad’s DNR wrote this rule to give out as few permits as possible, and as written, the rule would give the DNR far too much discretion in issuing permits.
The meeting was a kick-off to a months-long public comment process that will include at least six in-person hearings in Ainsworth, Calmar, Carroll, Des Moines, Mason City, and Spencer. The official public comment period will then officially begin April 16, according to DNR sources.
And CCI members will be there every step of the way.
“Governor Branstad, DNR Director Chuck Gipp, and EPC chair Mary Boote should consider themselves on notice, we know what they are up to, and we are ready to mobilize thousands of Iowans all summer long to fight for a Clean Water Iowa that puts communities before corporations and people before profits, politics, and polluters,” said Barb Kalbach, member and family farmer from Dexter.
A work plan signed between the DNR and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on September 11, 2013 requires the DNR to finish the new rule by the end of the year. The work plan was won despite intense opposition from Governor Branstad’s office and is the result of more than seven years of organizing by members and allies the Environmental Integrity Project and the Iowa Sierra Club.
The next step: fight hard for an updated rule that guarantees factory farms play by stronger rules - or get shut down.
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