Balanced Development: The Legislative Role
in Ensuring Animal Waste Disposal Safeguards
State Senator Merlin E. Bartz
Chair of the Senate Natural Resources and Environment Committee
Iowa State Senate
A legislator has three powers:
- The ability to pass laws,
- The oversight function, and
- Function as ombudsman.
In the struggle of government to balance the best interest of the citizens, it is these powers which enable a legislator to strive for the public good.
A frequently unappreciated power is that of ombudsman. I am constantly heartened by the willingness of citizens to involve themselves in the pressing issues of the day. The important issue of animal waste is just such an issue where citizens are very willing to make the weight of their arguments and concerns felt.
Certainly, there are those who find the new-found ability to motivate others to follow and intoxicating elixir, but they re often offset by those who believe there is no problem at al. The surprising thing is how many levelheaded individuals there are who contribute their time, talent, and expertise. These individuals who come forwarded in, around, and through the public melee are the foundations for brining everyone to the table.
One such instance where citizens came forward to demonstrate how the three powers of a legislator works is an incident in Wright County. In Wright County there are drainage wells. Also in Wright County a producers was granted animal storage permits to build lagoons near these drainage wells.
Let me further explain drainage wells and the topography of Wright County. An interesting fact about the County is that Wall Lake is higher than the surrounding farmland. In the early days, the settlers realized that in order to create drainage ditches, they would have to build them very deep and go a very long distance to find enough slope to drain the land for farming
Farmers and residents of Wright County called their legislators expressing concern for the potential hazard which a collapsing lagoon posed to the groundwater. This is when the scientific and policy experts were drawn into the picture. We must look at what is known and what is scientifically provable to try and determine what policy should be championed in bringing balance to the competing interests.
The competing interests can be divided into three major categories: economic interests, private property rights, and environmental concerns.
I do not wish to minimize the importance of the scientific and policy experts in helping to unlock the puzzle of balancing interests. I do, however, wish to emphasize the role of politics in brining about solutions to difficult, entwined, and complex issues. I am sure there is more than once scientist or policy expert who is well aware of the fact that logic and reason frequently do not prevail.
Why, you may ask.
Unless the public can clearly perceive that their interests are being heard and protected by the community as a whole, they will not accept the outcome. We as a community, still cling to the bonds of our social contract with one another.
Because of the expressed concerns of the residents in Wright County, and the response of their elected officials, a bill was introduced in the state legislature, which closed those drainage wells near the lagoons. In addition, it was written into law that there was a ban on locating lagoons in drainage well watersheds. The legislature also appropriated money to help indemnify landowners who will permanently, or for a long period of time, lose the use of their farmland. The bill also made habitual violators of environmental laws ineligible for indemnification. This was intended to send a strong signal to producers to be vigilant in the observance of our state's resources and Environment Committee, I have the ability to call those responsible to task, and ask the question—why? It is the legislature, through its oversight power, which can bring confidence back to the public that someone is watching those who are charged with watching. To fail in this responsibility is to breed distrust of the whole system of government.
Although politics is, and always will be, at the heart of policy, there is a place for honest disagreement. There is a place for listening to the concerns of others. There is a place for ingenuity and creativity, which is substantiated by provable and repeatable facts. But, most of all, there is a need for caring. If balanced policies, representing that which is best in all of use, are to prevail—then caring about one another, the economy, and the environment are a necessity for good government.
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