Green is More Than a Color – It's a Commitment
On this Earth Day, Monday, April 22, you won't find me planting trees in neglected areas of Waterloo, or picking up trash along a walking trail in Boone. I'll be spending most of the day inside. But don't worry, I'll be working to protect the earth from the vantage point of a Woodbury County Courthouse hearing room.
More specifically, I'll be focusing on one place near and dear to my heart: the Loess Hills in northwest Iowa. That's where I grew up. It was a special place to me long before I knew it was widely recognized as the only other place in the world beyond northern China with such deep deposits of fine loess soils.
But not everyone shares my sense of awe. All you need to do is drive the Loess Hills Scenic Byway to see the human impacts of cropping, removing, and developing the Hills, in complete disregard for their fragile soil structure and beauty.
On this Earth Day 2024, I'm reflecting on the reality that it's not always so simple to do what's right for the environment.
Next Gen Fertilizers
For instance, it's no secret that synthetic fertilizers have impaired water quality here in Iowa. Synthetic fertilizers = Bad. Natural/organic fertilizers = Good?
It depends.
In 2022, the USDA created a grant program, called the Fertilizer Production Expansion Program, designed to increase manufacturing and processing of American fertilizer and nutrient alternatives for U.S. farmers. The five-year grants also include installing climate smart equipment, with grant recipients receiving from $1 million to $100 million.
Landus Cooperative in Boone County, one of the largest farmer-owned cooperatives in Iowa, received a $5 million grant to add a $16 million manufacturing and repackaging facility for green ammonia fertilizer at its grain processing facility. Green ammonia is made from green nitrogen derived from renewable sources such as wind and solar. It’s a foliar slow-release product (applied directly to plants' leaves) that reduces in-ground nitrogen application rates. The on-site facility lowers the carbon footprint of fertilizer production, storage, and shipping.
Traditional ammonia production relies on fossil fuels, and generates carbon as a byproduct. Landus is partnering with Talus Ag, the world's first modular green ammonia system, to implement on-site production. Landus's plant is powered by a six-acre solar bank. It also is projected to reduce an estimated 50% of freight cost, and lower overall cost of nitrogen fertilizers by up to 50%.
Sounds good, doesn't it? Could this be a win for the environment – AND for farmers?
Fertilizers from Composting
Natural is good, right? Organic is optimum, correct?
Sometimes.
I'll be attending a planning and zoning meeting on Earth Day in Sioux City regarding a USDA grant recipient seeking to locate an organic waste composting facility in Woodbury County's Loess Hills. It will combine manure, food, feed, and plant wastes to make a natural fertilizer. First, however, it needs to receive approval to rezone agricultural preservation land.
After studying the Stakeholder Review, it doesn't appear that any prior experience is required. Regarding the plan to use processed food and feed waste, the applicant writes, "these items are hard to handle, and if not managed correctly, can cause harmful environmental impacts of these organic nutrients being concentrated and deposited in one location".
The operator, who lives in southwestern Iowa, would hire two to three site operators. Ten to 20 loads of processed waste would be hauled in per day from companies like Tyson, AGP, Cargill, Gelita, the Andersens, truck washes, municipalities ,"and others". Some land would be leveled, and buildings constructed. However, the owner never notified his adjoining neighbors and property owners of this proposed facility.
Oh, and did I mention the entrance to the proposed site is sandwiched in a .7 of a mile stretch of two lane pavement, between a curve around a protruding bluff to the south and a hill immediately to the north? The result would be a potentially lethal mix of trucks, combined with bicycle and motorcycle traffic, and sightseers looking for a leisurely drive along the Loess Hills Scenic Byway.
It's possible that organic waste composting is a worthwhile effort, but siting this facility in the Loess Hills along an inadequate, dangerous roadway, and with only a cursory nod to human health and safety, isn't a prudent approach that a company truly interested in improving the environment would pursue.
Inadequate Regulations
The karst region in northeastern Iowa is another beautiful area. Its soil structure also requires special protections, since a limestone bedrock allows manure, bacteria, stormwater runoff and other contaminants to penetrate groundwater and aquifers.
Recently the Iowa DNR's Environmental Protection Commission voted to adopt proposed regulations regarding the siting, construction, and operation of concentrated animal feeding operations without additional protections for this region. According to a Des Moines Register article this past week, a public records request by 13 environmental groups reveals the DNR's internal karst team had advised between 5 and 15 feet of separation between CAFOs and karst regions, and a 5-foot continuous layer of low-permeability soil, nonsoluble bedrock, or a 2-foot synthetic clay liner. The rule passed by the DNR requires a status quo separation of five feet. Iowa commodity groups and Iowa Farm Bureau argued against excessive regulations.
As a result, these 13 environmental groups have petitioned the federal Environmental Protection Agency to "exercise its emergency authority" under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act to force greater protections for this region. Stay tuned.
Bottle Recycling Deserts
A recent survey by Cleaner Iowa shows that changes in the bottle bill signed into law in 2022 by Governor Reynolds allow most grocery and convenience stores to opt out of accepting empty containers. Only 8.7% of 1,000 Iowa businesses are redeeming recyclable containers.
With fewer places to return recyclable plastic bottles and aluminum cans and redeem the nickel deposit, it's likely more containers will end up in ditches and illegal dumps. The 2022 law required beverage distributors to pay a fee to redemption centers, with the goal of increasing the number of such centers. A few more have opened, but not nearly enough to offset the stampede of grocery and convenience stores out of the recycling business.
At a recent press conference at the Capitol, Mick Barry, a spokesman for Cleaner Iowa, stated, "The unintended consequence of this bill, however, has been actually a net reduction in places to redeem your containers for consumers and citizens of the state, and thus creating a lack of convenient redemption as envisioned by Governor Ray and Governor Branstad when they created this law back in 1979."
Today Iowa has "recycling deserts". A total of 29 counties don't have a redemption center, according to Cleaner Iowa. This is a blow to the environment, and the Iowa legislature needs to go back to the drawing board.
Carbon Sequestration
Approval from the Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) to lay 690 miles of pipelines to trap and sequester carbon underground across Iowa is imminent. During this past year, I listened to hours of testimony from landowners and farmers before the IUB. The vast majority objected to allowing Summit Carbon Solutions to dig up soil in their fields and pastures. Should a private company receive a permit to build and maintain a $8.5 billion hazardous liquid pipeline on land it doesn't own?
What about Summit's permit application to withdraw as much as 50 million gallons of water annually near an ethanol plant near Lawler? The company has applied for other water permits, including in Wright County. Is this a good use for our state's water resources and the environment? Is it sustainable? Does Iowa have a statewide plan for groundwater resources/extraction?
Making Wind Energy More Green
Wind energy has made Iowa a leader in renewable energy, reducing the need for fossil fuels. Ever wonder what happens to those huge wind turbine blades after they're damaged or "decommissioned"? Wind turbines have a lifespan of only about 20 years. Yet landfills aren't built to accommodate such large-scale waste, and burning the turbine blades would release carbon and other byproducts unfriendly to the environment.
A company called REGEN Fiber in Fairfax, Iowa, is converting more than 30,000 tons of shredded turbine blades into raw materials annually. The process doesn't release thermal emissions or carbon or use risky chemicals. Another plant in Marengo has been recycling the blades in making cement.
However, after collecting Iowa tax credits, another company, Global Fiberglass Solutions, spent three years collecting blades without recycling any. Let's hope Iowa finally has recycling solutions that are wins for the environment.
What's Ahead?
Unfortunately, the environment seems to suffer the most when emerging, relatively untested initiatives get tangled up with big money, and politics: i.e., Federal and state tax credits, grants, and incentives. Too often, people also become pawns.
On this Earth Day 2024, we need to:
(1) Beware of greenwashing claims. Some technologies proposed to solve environmental problems are unproven. We must go beyond deceptive marketing labels and buzzwords – biodegradable, compostable, energy-efficient, renewable energy and sustainable – and apply better science to evaluate greenwashing credentials.
(2) Take care as we move ahead to help the environment that we're not creating worse environmental problems. What tradeoffs are we making?
(3) Stay aware and alert officials to environmental issues and violations.
Iowa legislators took a run this session at silencing the voices of concerned citizens by introducing a bill to eliminate anonymous complaints to the Dept. of Natural Resources. Under this bill, the name of the person making the complaint would have been revealed to the individual or company being investigated.
Fortunately, that bill didn't make it through funnel week. The argument that the DNR receives too many frivolous or unfounded complaints is not borne out by the facts: records show most complaints are legitimate.
Finally, although science and technology may create new methods to cope with environmental issues (enriching fertilizers naturally, sequestering carbon, recycling wind turbines and more), it's up to policy makers and governments to carefully weigh other social, human, and environmental risks when making regulatory decisions and granting requests for land use and eminent domain, including:
· What falls under the definition of "public convenience and necessity"?
· What about other risks to human health and safety?
· Do the proposed financial benefits outweigh potential liabilities?
We humans often make a mess of the environment, even when our decisions are well-intentioned. But we must try to do better. The Earth is depending on us.
I’m delighted to be part of The Iowa Writers’ Collaborative
Thanks for this reminder that we always have to continue learning.
What an insightful substack Cheryl! Thank you. Your research into the pros and cons of green tech and energy reveals the good and the bad and the need to question “clean energy” innovations. It is my hope that Iowans who believe corn, hogs and chicken factories are the future of Iowa will wake up to the consequences of industrialized agri business. Iowans are sacrificing our health for king corn.