As someone who was a member of one of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources’ LEAN water quality and air quality permit committees, I was somewhat confused and curious as to why something that was done 20 years ago was now being mentioned as a model for the U.S. (“Iowa permit reforms are a model, Oct. 25). Besides the NPDES permit LEAN Committee, I was on other DNR Technical Assistance Committees, or TACs.
In my view, the LEAN process was both good and bad. Yes, it saved some time in some areas, but it also deprived the permit process of multiple eyes and multiple perspectives that may have caught something that wasn’t right in the permitting process.
A case in point is the POET ethanol plant near Shell Rock (“Residents among last to know about ethanol plant toxins,” Oct. 27). “The problem in Shell Rock went unnoticed because the Iowa DNR relied on an engineer’s estimates that didn’t foresee the extent of the pollution.” The article is not clear whether it was a DNR engineer, or and outside engineer. From my perspective, the problem could have come from the DNR reducing the number of departments that were involved in the permitting process. From the POET article, “Based on those numbers, a ‘stack test’ is not required for this unit, a departmental review of the permit application concluded.” The DNR also said “We really don’t have the capacity to stack test absolutely everything that gets permitted.” That is a problem.
The last TAC committee I was on was writing regulations for digesters in agriculture as there were no regulations at the time that would protect workers and the public from digester pollution. When the Legislature found out we were writing those regulations they passed Senate File 534 in 2019, which said you couldn’t regulate digesters in ag and the committee was disbanded.
The permit article authors say Iowa’s process is a nation wide model. They also say: “Just as Iowa’s part-time legislators juggle public service with private-sector work, DNR officials balance regulatory oversight with the need to keep businesses and projects moving forward.” The science says that since the LEAN process was introduced 20 years ago, agricultural pollution has doubled in the state of Iowa. Has the permitting process stopped that pollution increase?
We know the Reynolds administration has cut many departments’ budgets trying to pay for ever lower taxes, and to pay for private school vouchers. It is curious that at almost the same time the permit model article was in the Gazette there was a meeting in Decorah of two northeast Iowa Republican legislators, who both are on Appropriation (budget) Committees, and the DNR legislative liaison. Could there be a connection between an article lauding DNR efficiency, the Decorah meeting, and a plan to cut DNR’s budget?
As I mentioned previously, since this DNR LEAN process began, Iowa’s agricultural pollution has doubled. Legislative Democrats should be on the look out for a bill this next session slicing the DNR budget. If that budget cut happens, it will further the ongoing transition of the Department of Natural Resources to the Department of Enabling Pollution. That is not a model to be proud of.
Bob Watson
Decorah