May 21, 2013

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Missouri River to continue in drought conservation mode

May 20, 2013 By

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is operating the Missouri River reservoir system in drought conservation mode and doesn’t expect much to change for at least a few months. Despite plentiful rainfall this spring, Corps engineer Kevin Stom says runoff in the region continues to be very low.

“Although precipitation in April was well above normal in much of the upper Missouri River basin, observed April runoff was 78% of normal,” Stom says. “This is due to the large soil moisture deficits in the upper basin from the 2012 drought.” Jody Farhat, head of the water control division for the Omaha Corps office, says water-saving efforts are underway.

“We’re implementing measures to conserve water in the main stem reservoir system this year, including reduced service to navigation,” Farhat says. “Flow support for the second half of the navigation season and the season length will be determined by the volume of water in the reservoir system on July first.” Farhat says the Corps may have to take further steps if the dry conditions persist.

Farhat says, “Other potential conservation measures that may be implemented this summer include not supporting navigation targets in the regions without commercial navigation, use of the Kansas basin reservoirs for navigation support and cycling Gavins Point releases during endangered species nesting season.”

The Corps reports the runoff forecast in the region north of Sioux City is well below where it should be. It’s gauged at 20-million acre feet, which is 79-percent of normal.

By Jerry Oster, WNAX, Yankton

Filed Under: Environment & Conservation, News, Weather

EPA says it gave out too much information on livestock producers

May 17, 2013 By

In the wake of scandals with the I.R.S. targeting conservative groups and the Justice Department checking reporters’ phone records, now the EPA admits it gave personal information on 80,000 livestock producers to environmental activist groups.

Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley is preparing legislation to restrict the EPA’s ability to release such data. Iowa Cattlemen’s president Ed Greiman, of Garner, says the measure is badly needed to protect producers’ privacy and rights.

“It’s crazy that we’ve got to deal with the EPA this way,” Greiman says. “It’s a good thing Senator Grassley has been working closely with the National Cattlemen who helped him draft this legislation.” Greiman says the personal privacy issue has drifted down to the state level where EPA has been overseeing the state Department of Natural Resources’ regulation of confined animal feedlots, or CAFOs.

“We know the EPA would like for the Iowa DNR to identify all possible CAFOs,” he says. “The real question we have for the Iowa DNR is, okay, where does this information go? The government just cannot be releasing all of our personal information.”

The EPA was responding to a Freedom of Information Act request by Earth Justice, the Pew Charitable Trust and the Natural Resources Defense Council. EPA officials admit they released more information than was required.

One critic in the U.S. Senate, Republican Mike Johanns of Nebraska, says the EPA is “too cozy” with environmental activist groups.

By Jerry Oster, WNAX, Yankton

Filed Under: Agriculture, Environment & Conservation, Featured Story, News, Politics & Government Tagged With: , ,

Senate panel votes to keep state tax break for ethanol-blended fuels

May 15, 2013 By

Rob Hogg

Rob Hogg

The Iowa Senate Ways and Means Committee this morning passed legislation that preserves the current price advantage for ethanol-blended gasoline.

The state tax on a gallon of ethanol-blended gasoline is 19 cents today. Other gasoline is taxed at 21 cents a gallon. Senator Rob Hogg, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids, says there’s broad, bipartisan support to keep this the tax break for consumers who buy ethanol.

“The idea originally was that’s an incentive to encourage people to use ethanol and so that is an incentive we’re going to preserve for another year,” Hogg says.

It saves those who buy ethanol-blended fuels at Iowa gas stations an estimated $8 million annually. Hogg says the bill also ensures Iowa retailers have the “freedom” to sell whatever blend of ethanol they want.

“There was some belief that you could have national oil companies dictating that: ‘Dealer, you can’t sell E15, or if you can sell it, it has to be at a separate pump out behind the building and you can’t take credit card payments,’” Hogg says. “So it’s not just about E15. It affects blender pumps. It affects E85. It affects everything.”

This ethanol-related legislation has passed the Republican-led Iowa House in slightly different form. Democrats in the senate are balking at a proposal included in the House bill that would permit as much as 5000 gallons of fuel to be stored in an above-ground tank Supporters say farmers want the change, as current law limits the size of above ground fuel storage tanks to 1100 gallons. Hogg says the proposal raises a few concerns for him.

“Number one is you get bigger spills and, number two, you could have bigger explosions,” Hogg says. “You know I did that official form of legislative research. I “Googled” 5000 gallon tanks and found a big explosion in Pennsylvania.”

Hogg says that prompted him to “go slow,” review the proposal with the fire marshal and push the decision off ’til next year.

Filed Under: Environment & Conservation, Featured Story, Fires/Accidents/Disasters, News, Politics & Government Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Mountain lion sighting in Oskaloosa

May 12, 2013 By

Two people called 911 this past Saturday to say they saw a mountain lion in Oskaloosa. 

The Oskaloosa Police Department received a report of a mountain lion sighting on the northeast side of Oskaloosa. According to a press release from the city’s police department, the animal was observed by two residents in the area. Authorities were unable to locate the animal. The press release states residents last saw the animal heading north.

Authorities say people in the area should be observant when they’re outdoors and immediately report any mountain lion sightings to local law enforcement. Police say if you see a mountain lion, back away slowly and never, under any circumstances, approach it.

(Reporting by Charlie Comfort, KBOE, Oskaloosa)

Filed Under: Environment & Conservation, Fires/Accidents/Disasters, News

More trumpeter swans released in Iowa (AUDIO)

May 11, 2013 By
Trumpeter Swans

Trumpeter Swans

An effort launched 20 years ago to restore the trumpeter swan population in Iowa received another boost this week.

AUDIO: Radio Iowa’s Pat Curtis reports (runs 1:07)

Dave Hoffman is a wildlife technician with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources in Clear Lake. He says nearly all of the swans introduced in the state have been placed in northern or east-central Iowa.

But, 14 trumpeter swans were released this Wednesday and Thursday in four locations in southwest Iowa. The young birds at Walnut Creek Lake in Mount. Ayr, Summit Lake near Creston, Viking Lake near Stanton, and at Lake Anita State Park will remain at those locations until the lakes freeze next fall.

“Our goal is that they learn to fly at these locations and then return next spring,” Hoffman says. “It will be several years before there’s any nesting. Typically, it takes at least four years before a female can even reach the reproductive age.”

It’s been a big challenge to restore the trumpeter swan population in Iowa as the birds have a high mortality rate. Hoffman says they’ve released over 1,100 young trumpeters in the state since the campaign was launched in 1993. There are now just 47 pairs nesting.

Trumpeter swans are the largest waterfowl in North America. They can weigh up to 32 pounds and have an eight foot wingspan. The trumpeters vanished from Iowa in the late 1880s as they were hunted by early settlers.

 

Filed Under: Environment & Conservation, News

Tree theft leads to 15 months in prison for Des Moines man

May 10, 2013 By

A Des Moines man has been sentenced to just over one year in prison for stealing trees from federal land.

A U.S. District Court judge sentenced 50-year-old Randall Todd Walker to 15 months in prison after he pled guilty to cutting down and removing 32 walnut trees from land controlled by the Department of the Interior, Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Federal and state investigators say the trees were taken from the Neil Smith Wildlife Preserve near Prairie City, at two areas near Des Moines, and near Lake Red Rock in Marion County. Walker was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release when he gets out of prison and will have to pay $56,225 in restitution.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts, Environment & Conservation, News

MidAmerican to spend $1.9 billion to erect 656 new wind turbines in Iowa (AUDIO)

May 8, 2013 By
MidAmerican’s Bill Fehrman, middle, with Governor Branstad & Lt. Governor Reynolds.

MidAmerican’s Bill Fehrman, middle, with Governor Branstad & Lt. Governor Reynolds.

MidAmerican Energy plans spend nearly $2 billion to install 656 new wind turbines in Iowa.

Bill Fehrman, the company’s president and CEO, said MidAmerican customers in Iowa should see a one-percent reduction in their utility bills once those turbines are up and running.

“As a result of this project, we’re actually able to reduce rates by $10 million by 2017,” Fehrman said during a news conference at the state capitol.

By starting the project later this year, MidAmerican will qualify for federal wind production tax credits that are set to expire December 31.

“Without that, the environment for doing projects of this magnitude and this size simply would not be possible,” Fehrman said.

Over the past several years MidAmerican has spent about $4 billion to install 1267 wind turbines around the state. MidAmerican plans to add the new turbines along the wind “ridges” in Iowa.

“In 2016, when the fleet is built out, you could do the calculation and about 39 percent of the energy that our customers would use could be supplied by wind,” Fehrman said.

The project should be complete by the middle of 2015.

“The actual sites are still under development, but generally if you look at a good wind map, you can probably get a good feel for where we’ll be targeting,” Fehrman said. “The ultimate decision on that will be done over the next couple of months.”

There are no state or local tax breaks being offered for this project. Fehrman said the federal wind production tax credit is “critical” to the survival of the industry.

“Now there’s a lot of efforts within the industry to continue to make themselves more competitive and we certainly support all of that as we go forward, but the work that our federal delegation did to extend it at least through this year was fundamental to our decision to bring these benefits back for our customers,” Fehrman said.

Iowa’s governor invited the MidAmerican executive to make the announcement in a news conference staged in the governor’s statehouse office late this afternoon..

 ”(MidAmerican) Energy has the new record: $1.9 billion investment in Iowa,” Branstad said, “the largest capital investment in our state’s history.”

The governor said farmers benefit from the long-term leases MidAmerican will pay to erect these turbines in the countryside, and counties benefit from the rising property tax base.

“The closer you live to where wind is produced, the more supportive you are of this industry,” Branstad said.

A MidAmerican news release indicated landowner payments would top $3 million a year, but MidAmerican’s president would not comment on what an individual farmer might expect to be paid for leasing his land for one of these new wind turbines.

Critics of wind energy say the industry can’t be profitable without the federal tax credits. Branstad credits MidAmerican’s expanding wind turbine portfolio with landing Facebook’s eventual billion-dollar expansion into the Des Moines suburb of Altoona.

“Many of these high-tech companies, they want to have a ‘green’ portfolio,” Branstad told reporters. “They want to say that a lot of their energy for these data centers comes from renewable sources and we can offer that right here in Iowa.”

MidAmerican executives estimate 460 construction workers will be hired to put up the new turbines. MidAmerican will put 48 workers on its full-time payroll to operate and maintain the turbines.

AUDIO of news conference, runs 19:55

Filed Under: Business, Environment & Conservation, Featured Story, News, Politics & Government Tagged With: , , ,
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