You CAN fight Shitty Hall
And if you want clean water and air, you'll have to
“Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion, against injustice and lying and greed. If you will do this, not as a class or classes, but as individuals, men and women, you will change the earth.”
William Faulkner, May 28, 1951.
Six weeks ago I posted The Fat Lady has Laryngitis, discussing Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) Toby Gordon’s proposed order to Iowa DNR that they re-examine the water use permit renewal application of Clayton County’s Supreme Beef. Larry Stone of Elkader and Steve Veysey of Ames contested the renewal on the basis that the water withdraw permit threatened nearby wells and furthermore, water pumped from the aquifer, after passing through the cattle’s bodies, became a pollution threat to surface and groundwater resources in the area.
After deliberating 10 months, Gordon found for the plaintiffs (Stone and Veysey) and directed the water use permit be remanded back to DNR with the proposal that they follow existing law and consider the effects on water quality that may result from the issuance of the water use permit.
Here’s the latest: The time limit has lapsed for the DNR Director to contest the proposed Order issued by the Administrative Law Judge in the challenge made to the water use permit issued to the owners of Supreme Beef. At their December 14 meeting, the Environmental Protection Commission (EPC), which provides oversight to DNR, also declined to take up the matter. That means that the proposed Order has become final.
To review: Supreme Beef is a 10,000+ head beef cattle operation perched at the headwaters of 6-mile-long Bloody Run Creek, one of Iowa’s few streams that support natural reproduction of trout. Bloody Run is also designated an Iowa Outstanding Water by DNR, one of only 34 in the state.
The controversial cattle operation has been in the news since at least 2017 and embroiled one state legislator (Dan Zumbach, R-Ryan) in an ethics controversy for apparently intervening with Iowa DNR on behalf of the operator of the facility, Jared Walz, who in what is surely just a wild coincidence, also happens to be married to Zumbach’s daughter. That willingness to go the extra-extra mile despite appearances earned Dan “2024 Friend of the Iowa Soybean Farmer” by green washer extraordinaire, the Iowa Soybean Association.
The Supreme Beef facility has been fined twice for sediment runoff into the creek and had its nutrient management plan successfully challenged before it was returned to DNR for a shot of Bo(vine)tox so it would look more beautiful to a judge. This latter road bump inspired another extra-miler in the legislature, Mike Sexton, to propose a bill (SF 2371) that allowed manure from an open feedlot or animal truck wash facility to be applied to fields in an emergency situation before Iowa DNR approved or denied the nutrient management plan. Sexton’s wife Becky owns Twin Lakes Environmental Services and developed the Supreme Beef nutrient management plan. The bill passed (of course).
What’s next? Veysey and Stone are both members of Driftless Water Defenders. I serve as the group’s President. DWD is a Northeast Iowa clean water advocate whose mission includes a willingness to litigate for better water when necessary. Registered agent and Iowa City attorney Jim Larew serves as the group’s legal counsel and was lead attorney on Veysey and Stone’s petition challenging Supreme Beef’s water use permit renewal.
Since ALJ Gordon’s proposed order , Supreme Beef has continued its operations and DNR has done nothing to enforce the ruling. As such we (DWD) intend to file a Complaint with Iowa DNR asserting that Supreme Beef is now operating its cattle feeding operation with an invalid water use permit as a result of Judge Gordon’s proposed and uncontested order, and as such Supreme does not have a right to withdraw water from the nearby aquifer to water the cattle. To begin such a challenge, including a demand for a public hearing, requires creating a Petition that is signed by at least 25 persons. We will hold a public event in Decorah on January 6, 2025 (venue not yet determined) at 7 p.m. for those wishing to sign the petition. The event will feature speakers and provide an opportunity to engage with me and others involved in this effort. I will post here in the coming days the final details regarding the event, so stay tuned.
The old proverb “you can’t fight city hall” has been used to discourage common citizens from fighting established centers of power, especially government and its most generous and powerful constituents. The phrase can be traced to the corrupt New York Tammany Hall political organization of the late 1800s.
It’s not exactly a secret that establishment agriculture and especially the livestock industry holds a tenacious grip on our governmental processes here in Iowa, and has for a long time. Kitty-cornered from the Iowa State Capitol, we might say that the Wallace State Office Building, that until recently housed our DNR (and IDALS—Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship), served as our very own Shitty Hall. Four of the six permanent Iowa DNR directors since 1999 have farmed and other upper level management positions have often been occupied by farmers, which might say something about the time demands of both agency employment and farming. (Farmer Zumbach admits he first ran for the legislature because he had too much time on his hands.)
(Note: DNR and IDALS have moved/are moving to a different building at 6200 Park Avenue in Des Moines because the stench at the Wallace Building became unbearable.)
Opposing new and existing CAFOs (Confined Animal Feeding Operations) has become Mission Impossible for most in Iowa, and the game has been so rigged that the industry seems only to avoid the one-percenter wealth occupying Lake Okoboji mansions in Dickinson County, and organized CAFO opposition around Fairfield in the form of Jefferson County Farmers and Neighbors (JFAN). To give you an idea of JFAN’s influence, Jefferson County has about 60,000 hogs while the bordering county of Washington has 1.5 million. Moral of the story: money and organization matter if you want clean water and air.
In her beautifully-written The Open Space of Democracy, Terry Tempest Williams makes the case that fighting for the environment is also fighting for democracy: “In the open space of democracy, the health of the environment is seen as the wealth of our communities. We remember that our character has been shaped by the diversity of America’s landscapes and it is precisely that character that will protect it.” And, “The open space of democracy provides justice for all living things—plants, animals, rocks and rivers, as well as human beings.” She reminds us not to confuse democracy with capitalism, and especially, that the bad guys feast on citizen disengagement with nature and environment.
It is passivity of cynicism that has broken the back of our collective outrage. We succumb to our own depression believing there is nothing we can do.
Terry Tempest Williams
In Republic, Plato tells us that Socrates was a skeptic of democracy, fearing that a society of freedom gone wild would produce a mob of selfish people, caring little for their fellow citizens and motivated only by their personal desires to attain power. Two and half millennia later, it seems our country is facing this challenge. We’d be fools to think the ghost of Abraham Lincoln is going to swoop down upon our government, sprinkling common good fairy dust upon the foreheads of our leaders. Likewise don’t expect Aldo Leopold and Rachel Carson to rise from their graves to lead a march on the Iowa capitol demanding agriculture change its polluting ways.
The Environmental Protection Commission’s failure to act on Judge Gordon’s proposed order signals Zumbach, Sexton and the rest of the Iowa legislature might, possibly with attempts to change Iowa code in the upcoming session by removing the requirement DNR account for water quality and other common good issues when considering water use permits. But hey, let’s focus on the positive: we’re on the scoreboard and have a small lead. We’re eyeing the goal posts. If you want clean water and a government not beholden to the Ag Syndicate and its bosses, then let’s storm the field and tear those suckers down.
Resources
https://www.iasoybeans.com/newsroom/article/isr-june-2024-lifelong-farmer-and-legislative-leader
https://www.thegazette.com/state-government/feedlot-opponents-file-ethics-complaint-against-sen-dan-zumbach/
https://iowaresponsibleagriculture.org/action-alert-tell-your-legislators-to-vote-no-on-sf-2371/
https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislation/BillBook?ba=SF2371&ga=90
https://www.driftlesswaterdefenders.com
https://grammarist.com/idiom/you-cant-fight-city-hall/
https://www.jfaniowa.org
https://quickstats.nass.usda.gov/results/010B58AD-430E-373E-B0A6-60524427CED7
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato%27s_political_philosophy
Have you explored the variety of writers, plus Letters from Iowans, in the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative? Members are shown below.
I would like to sign the petition but cannot come to Decorah January. 6, could I sign on line?
A WIN, no matter how big or small it is, is still a WIN! We need the help of the crowd to make it an even bigger WIN! I am a member of the Water Defenders, and even though Ilive 100 miles away from Decorah, I plan to be there to add my name to the petition! In January, that is a commitment! Our communities need to stand together to end this syndicate of farm organizations intent on destroying our water supply, our environment, for their want of money at our expense. It is time to take back our democracy from the pirates who think they can steal it!