Sierra Club asks EPA to take over oversight of Iowa waters because of state failures

The U.S. government should oversee Iowa cities, farms and businesses' impact on the state's waters, an environmental group says, arguing the state has done a poor job protecting its rivers, lakes and streams.

The Sierra Club Iowa Chapter filed a petition this week , asking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to pull the Iowa Department of Natural Resources’ authority to enforce the 1972 Clean Water Act, the legal framework for improving and preserving the nation’s waters.

The group, representing 7,000 members, says the Iowa DNR has failed to properly regulate concentrated animal feeding operations, called CAFOs, even after spills occur; renew discharge permits for all facilities; and develop plans that can help restore impaired waters.

"The Iowa DNR has been entrusted by EPA with the responsibility of protecting Iowa’s water resources. But DNR has for years violated this trust. Now EPA must step in,” said Wally Taylor, an Iowa Sierra Club attorney who filed the petition.

The Iowa DNR didn’t immediately respond to the petition Friday.

Eldon McAfee, a Des Moines attorney representing the Iowa Pork Producers Association, said Friday the petition is without merit. "Accidents do happen. But when they occur, first of all, there's a penalty, and second of all, producers have to show" they've taken corrective action, McAfee said.

Taylor wrote in the petition that Iowa DNR's CAFO enforcement is weak, with fines that rarely reach agency's the $10,000 cap — or referred to the Iowa attorney general's office for greater penalties. The remedy is "basically just a promise not to discharge again," the petition says. "This is not sufficient to show that a future discharge will not occur."

The Sierra Club, along with other environmental groups, filed a similar petition with the EPA in 2007 that six years later resulted in Iowa DNR agreeing to adopt a five-year workplan to address the organizations’ concerns.

When the workplan ended, "Iowa DNR took the position that it was ‘off the hook’ and could go back to its previous posture of not enforcing the Clean Water Act on CAFOs,” Taylor wrote in the petition.

While forcing some action, McAfee said the groups were unsuccessful in revoking the state's power to regulate clean water standards.

Taylor said Friday the EPA may not be willing to revoke the state's ability to regulate pollution discharge into the state's waters, but the federal government could require more rigorous enforcement from the state.

In the petition this week, the Sierra Club said the Iowa DNR has failed to adequately regulate discharges from sources such as cities, businesses and livestock operations.

Cities, businesses and other operations that need to discharge into the state's waters must apply for permits that regulate the amount.

“Almost all CAFOs in Iowa claim that they do not discharge, and therefore do not need” a permit under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System program. Then “when a CAFO does discharge, the CAFO owner claims that the cause of the discharge has been remedied and there will be no more discharges."

All CAFOs that have a spill “should have been required to apply” for permits, the group says. “The fact that a CAFO has discharged is proof that it does discharge and likely will again.”

McAfee said spills may occur because of mechanical failures such as a plugged pipe — or because of human error. And the state-required corrective action requires more than promises — sometimes investment in new equipment or systems that alert producers to manure losses.

The Sierra Club's petition says 467 operations in Iowa are operating on expired permits, some for more than two decades. Permits are required to be renewed every five years. A facility operating on an expired permit "may be discharging pollutants that would violate the requirements of the Clean Water Act."

“To our knowledge, Iowa DNR has made no effort to require these expired permits to be renewed. This is a violation of the Clean Water Act," the group says.

Lastly, the Sierra Club says state has failed to write plans to improve stretches of Iowa rivers, lakes and other waterways that have been listed as impaired for nearly two decades. “Some of those waters on the list since 2006 and 2008 are designated as Outstanding Iowa Waters,” according to the petition.

As part of the 2015 workplan, Iowa DNR used satellite imagery to identify potential CAFOs and discovered an additional 5,063 facilities. Of those, 1,300 were subject to regulation by the DNR, and half would require on-site inspections, the petition says.

EPA “determined in 2019 that the workplan and DNR’s response addressed the petition’s allegations.”

Donnelle Eller covers agriculture, the environment and energy for the Register. Reach her at deller@registermedia.com or 515-284-8457.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Sierra Club asks EPA to take over oversight of Iowa waters because of state failures