May 23, 2012

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Report grades cities on air quality

April 25, 2012 By

A new environmental report grades Iowa’s cities and counties on the quality of their air based on two types of pollution which threaten life and health. Micki Sandquist, executive director of the American Lung Association in Iowa, says the agency’s “State of the Air” report singled out five counties where there are traditionally air quality concerns.

Four of the five got perfect “A” grades for high ozone days. “Ozone is a gas that becomes dangerous with the right combination of heat and sunlight and it’s more likely to be blown in as it cooks under the right conditions,” Sandquist says.

“We think the high ozone days are great and we’re excited by that.” The five counties, Clinton, Muscatine, Scott, Linn and Polk, did not fare well with the second focus area of particle pollution. Four of the counties got “F” grades, and the fifth got a “D.”

“Particle pollution is a microscopic mix of solids that are more likely to come from local sources and they stay where the source is,” Sandquist says. “So it can be the local industries, the coal-fired power plants, diesel exhaust — they stay local, they’re not blown out like the ozone is.”

The report found two areas of eastern Iowa rank in the nation’s top 25 problem zones for short-term or year-round particle pollution — Davenport and nearby Muscatine County. Ironically, Davenport was also on the list of the country’s cleanest cities for ozone pollution, along with: Boone, Cedar Rapids, Des Moines and Waterloo-Cedar Falls.

Overall, Sandquist says the report shows conditions are generally improving in Iowa and that the Clean Air Act is working. She says standards set under the legislation are driving the trend toward cleaner air — things like the cleanup of coal-fired power plants, the conversion of fleets to cleaner diesel engines and cleaner SUVs. Iowans can take action, too.

“Individuals can protect themselves by driving less, walking, biking and carpooling,” Sandquist says. “They can also use less electricity by turning off the lights when they’re not in the rooms or refrain from burning wood or trash, and encouraging their local school systems to use clean school buses.”

Filed Under: Environment & Conservation, News

Rest area recycling project looks ready to expand

April 25, 2012 By

Motorists could soon be seeing recycling containers at more Iowa rest areas. A pilot project at eight central Iowa rest areas located near Ankeny, Mitchellville, Story City and Waukee was launched nine months ago.

The Iowa Department of Transportation placed containers for recycling aluminum cans, and glass and plastic bottles at those sites. Iowa D.O.T. rest area administrator, Steve McMenamin, says the effort has been much more successful than previous attempts at recycling.

“We don’t have hardly any commingling of trash with recyclables…that’s been a real plus that was a problems in our previous attempts,” McMenamin said. Roughly 38,000 pounds of beverage containers have been collected and recycled at the eight rest areas.

McMenamin is now hoping to expand the project to some of Iowa’s 32 other rest area locations. “I would say it’s been a great success,” McMenamin said of the recycling project.

“It’s not going to be made available everywhere that we have rest areas because they’re pretty rural…but, at least in some of the metro areas, maybe we can expand the program a little bit.”

The pilot project was funded, in part, with a $20,000 grant from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. More than 15 million people visit Iowa’s rest areas every year.

Filed Under: Environment & Conservation, Human Interest, News Tagged With:

Flood debris slows inspection work on Gavins Point Dam

April 24, 2012 By

Gavins Point Dam

Scuba divers are taking a closer look at the spillway area at Gavins Point Dam, near Yankton, South Dakota.

The dam was a focal point of last year’s historic flooding along the Missouri River that inundated western Iowa and eastern Nebraska.

That dam released more than 160,000 cubic feet of water per second for several weeks last summer as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dealt with record rain and runoff.

Dave Becker, operations manager at the dam, says some clean-up is needed before they can finish inspections.

“They got 80 to 90% of the spillway inspected but they determined there’s a lot of debris in the spillway that needs to be removed,” Becker says, “sunken water-logged logs, metal frames to things, old boat docks, things like that.” Becker says the design of the dam makes it more difficult to look at all the wear and tear.

“One of the challenges at our spillway here is, it’s always underwater,” he says. “We can’t do inspections in the dry all the time. There’s in the order of 350 drains on the spillway and we’re determining what level they’ll be inspected at.” Becker says the dam operated as it was designed to during last year’s flooding and he says there are no concerns about the structure being unsound.

“We’ve had some drains that’ve gotten washed away during the flood,” he says. “We’ve had new drains built to replace those. We’ve seen no issues with the concrete. We are concerned somewhat about the gravel, or the frost blanket, down below the concrete so that’s why they want to do the ground-penetrating radar to determine the condition of that.”

Becker says they hope to get much of the work started in the next two weeks. He says a barge and crane will be needed to clean out much of the heavy debris below the dam.

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

Des Moines school wins award for energy conservation, education

April 24, 2012 By

The Des Moines Central Campus school is one of 78 nationwide to win a “Green Ribbon” designation from the U.S. Department of Education. Des Moines schools spokesperson, Phil Roeder, says one part of the award involves the work on the school building.

“We are in the midst, like many districts in Iowa of course, renovating our schools throughout the community. And we pay a lot of attention and put a lot of effort into the energy efficiency aspect of that…so part of this recognition is part of the energy efficiency efforts that are underway,” Roeder says.

A second part of the recognition involves the education of students. “We have several programs from college-level science courses to career and technical programs that are located at Central Campus,” Roeder explains. “And so it’s not only doing things the right way, but it’s also teaching about things like new forms of energy sustainability efforts and really involving the entire community around the school with some of those programs.”

One of the key teaching programs is the “Iowa Energy and Sustainability Academy.” “It’s a high school program, which actually gives in many cases college level credit to students, that is looking at sustainability efforts. And teaching students about wind turbines and other forms of new energy. It’s teaching them about energy conservation and management and new green technology,” Roeder says.

He says the academy programs are also used to help other schools in the district. He says the Central Campus kicked off a recycling campaign that recycled 20,000 pounds of paper, and they worked with an elementary school to “trickle down” what they are learning.

The Department of Education’s “Green Ribbons” are one-year recognition awards. Find out more at:  www.dmschools.org.

Filed Under: Education, Environment & Conservation, News

Students go on shower strike for Earth Day

April 21, 2012 By

Some two-dozen central Iowa students and their teacher are going to an extreme next week as part of Earth Day events. Dawn Scholtens teaches second grade at Sunset Heights Elementary School in Webster City and she explains the basics of how they’re trying to both raise funds for charity and conserve water.

“It’s called Shower Strike and it is to raise money to build a well for a school in Kenya where they do not have running water,” Scholtens says. “For the week of April 22nd, we’re promising to not take a shower or a bath until we’ve raised a thousand dollars to help build that well.”

She says she and her students have differing motivations about this event. Scholtens says, “The boys and girls are very excited at the possibility of not having to take a shower and I’m hoping to very quickly raise the one-thousand dollars.” She says it’s good to get children involved in this sort of a project at a young age, and they won’t be alone in the endeavor.

“Each group that does the Shower Strike tries to raise one-thousand dollars,” she says. “A total of $40,000 is needed to build the one well. There are school groups and service groups across the country who are taking part in this, trying to raise that $40,000 for the well.”

The school where the well is to be constructed is located not far from the Kenyan capital of Nairobi. Scholtens says the school is for special needs children, most of whom have been abandoned because of their disabilities — and they live at the school.

Learn more and donate at: www.showerstrike.com

By Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City

Filed Under: Education, Environment & Conservation, News

State senators disagree over “climate change” (audio)

April 21, 2012 By

On the eve of “Earth Day” this Sunday a handful of state senators got into a partisan squabble over “climate change.”

It was Senator Rob Hogg, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids, who got things started by reading a statement from a group of Iowa religious leaders, including his own Catholic bishop.

“This was the statement: ‘Climate change is one of the most pressing challenges facing our world today and as religious leaders representing diverse faith traditions we are called to reaffirm our committment to be responsible stewards of Earth’s resources and to act in love to our neighbors both locally and globally,’” Hogg said. “‘Scientists, including those representing 28 Iowa colleges and universities who recently released a statement, have warned us that changes in global climate patterns are brining more extreme weather events to Iowa, the United States and our world.’”

That prompted Republican Senator David Johnson of Ocheyedan to ridicule the idea that humans are the main cause of climate change.

“With all due respect to our religious leaders…how much are you willing to spend to reverse what you call global warming?” Johnson asked. “…The country of Spain made a huge transition to their economy for green energy. What was the result of that? Bankruptcy?”

Hogg suggested ignoring climate change would wreck the U.S. economy.

“How much better off would this country be if there hadn’t been a $6 billion drought last year in Texas? How much better off would our state be if we hadn’t suffered $20 billion in flood damage over the last 20 years,” Hogg said, his voice rising to a yell. “You want to ruin our economy, Senator Johnson, you stick your head in the sand and ignore this issue.”

Johnson responded with a little yelling of his own.

“I’m on the side of the scientists I served with in Antartica and Greenland and I’m the only member of this body that has done that,” Johnson said. “And there is no agreement in the scientific community, no consensus that things have really changed because change happens.”

Not every senator exhibited a hot temper.  There were some light-hearted moments in this episode.

Senator Joni Ernst of Red Oak openly admitted to being a Republican who drives a fuel-efficient Prius.

“I did it just because I’m fiscally conservative and driving a Buick Enclave all around my rather large (senate) district was just not affordable,” Ernst said.

That prompted Senator Tom Courtney, a Democrat from Burlington, to admit he drives a gas-guzzling Corvette convertible.

“That’s my choice and I think it makes a 64-year-old man look pretty good, so that’s why I drive that,” Courtney said.

At the mid-way point Senate President Jack Kibbie called the 40-minute episode a “wonderful discussion” about climate change. Near the end, Senator James Seymour and Kibbie joked about their looming retirement from the senate.

“This has been a great debate this morning and I suspect, Mr. President, you — like myself — are going to miss this place terribly,” Seymour said, as most in the senate began laughing. Kibbie laughed heartily, too, and his chuckles were amplified because he laughed right into his microphone.

Others like Republican Senator Randy Feenstra of Hull suggested it was time for legislators to quit talking about climate change and move on to more productive tasks.

“Once a year we do this,” Feenstra said of the Iowa Senate’s climate change debate. “…Honestly, on that subject I think we should just agree to disagree because it’s not going to get us anywhere.”

AUDIO of Iowa Senate’s “climate change” discussion this past Thursday.

Key leaders expect the 2012 legislative session to wrap up sometime next week, but big decisions remain on budget issues. There’s been a tentative agreement on property tax reform, but details have not been made public.

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

Group of religious organizations signs document on climate change

April 20, 2012 By

Iowans from a host of religious groups are uniting to sign a document that focuses on the impact of climate change, as Earth Day is being marked this Sunday. Reverend Susan Guy, executive director of the group Iowa Interfaith Power and Light, says the statement was signed by 56 clergy members and other faith leaders representing 13 religious traditions and 42 Iowa congregations or organizations.

“Our goal really with this document was to draw attention to the issue of global climate change as a moral and ethical issue,” Reverend Guy says. “I feel like it’s been getting lost in some of our political rhetoric and in economic issues and so forth.”

The statement reads, in part, “Climate change is one of the most pressing challenges facing our world today and as religious leaders…we are called to reaffirm our commitment to be responsible stewards of Earth’s resources.” For people of faith, Guy says the subject of climate change has a much deeper importance than politics.

Guy says, “Anytime we have an issue that impacts people who are already struggling within our state and in our country, but also globally and there is such a great amount of inequality, it really becomes an issue of social justice.” Launched in 2006, Iowa Interfaith Power and Light is a joint response of Christian, Jewish, Muslim and other faith communities to climate change.

The vital job of caring for the Earth is something held in common by diverse faith traditions, she says. “Through all of our differences, one thing that we share together is a call to love and care for our neighbors,” Guy says. “How we live today matters not only for those we share the planet with today, but for future generations.”

She hopes political leaders will “stop seeing climate change as an economic issue that divides us, but as a moral issue that unites us.” See the full document at: www.iowaipl.org.

Filed Under: Environment & Conservation, News, Religion
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