GOP senators vote down Democrats’ effort to increase fines for water pollution

Senate also passes bills related to life jackets, firefighting foam and an official state horse

By CAMI KOONS
Iowa Capital Dispatch

The Iowa Senate passed a bill Monday updating laws for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, but declined to debate a Democrat-led amendment to strengthen water pollution regulations.

“Iowans, are you listening to the debate?” Sen. Janet Petersen, D-Des Moines, said on the floor. “Do you see the bills coming from departments that are completely tone deaf to your needs?”

The bill, Senate File 2230, which was swapped for the House-passed version, House File 2215, allows the DNR to have offices off of the Capitol complex, transfers powers over state preserves to the DNR and lowers the age that someone can hunt with a pistol or revolver, without adult accompaniment, from 20 to 18.

The bill passed without controversy from the Iowa House, but on Monday, Democrats in the Senate introduced an amendment that would allow DNR to more heavily penalize companies and persons responsible for environmental violations such as spills.

Sen. Janice Weiner, D-Iowa City, introduced the amendment and said it would give DNR “some teeth” and put “more of the burden of clean up on the company responsible for an accident and less of the burden on the state and on Iowa taxpayers.”

Weiner referenced a 2024 fertilizer spill in the East Nishnabotna River that killed more than 750,000 fish.

DNR currently has a $10,000 administrative fee cap when penalizing spills. The amendment would have allowed DNR to fine the company or liable person for 10% of the total clean-up costs, which Weiner argued would end up “saving the taxpayers money.”

The East Nishnabotna case was passed from DNR to the state attorney general, who reached a settlement with the polluting company that included a $50,000 penalty and a payment of $50,000 toward a supplemental environmental project. The estimated cost of the fish killed in the river was more than $225,000.

“This is the bill this year from the Department of Natural Resources — they are the state agency that’s charged with protecting our natural resources and ensuring that we all have clean water, clean air,” Weiner said. “The DNR currently has almost no enforcement power at all.”

Sen. Annette Sweeney, R-Iowa Falls, requested a ruling on whether the amendment was germane to the bill. Senate President Amy Sinclair, R-Allerton, ruled the amendment was not germane as it would “vastly” broaden the scope of the bill and open two additional code chapters.

Petersen said the proposed policy pertained to the DNR, the department that proposed the language of the bill.

“Iowans are begging for clean, safe drinking water,” Petersen said. “Iowans are paying the cost of pollution in their water bills. To say that policy language that would help with those things is not germane to the Department of Natural Resources bill is truly unbelievable.”

The bill was sent to Gov. Kim Reynolds’ desk with a vote of 31-14.

Soybean-based fire fighting foam 

The Senate unanimously advanced Senate File 2375 Monday, which would require local governments to consider using a soybean-based fire fighting foam in an effort to reduce the release of per- or polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, which are found in some fire fighting foams.

The bill stipulates that local governments that oversee fire departments must pass an ordinance by Jan. 1, 2027 to determine if they will purchase the soybean-based fire fighting foam.

The bill also requires the Iowa Department of Administrative Services to establish a master contract with a seller for foam that contains the “greatest content” of soybean-based foam that does not contain PFAS.

The purchase of fire fighting foam with PFAS has been outlawed in some federal agencies and in a handful of states. In addition to soybean-based foams, the U.S. Fire Administration lists that fluorine-free foams can also fight liquid fuel fires and don’t use PFAS.

A manufacturer of a soybean-based foam spoke to lawmakers in a subcommittee meeting on the bill and noted the company sources its soybeans from a facility in Cedar Rapids.

Sen. Scott Webster, R-Bettendorf, said the bill is a “great way to show the force of Iowa soybeans” and to “clean up the areas where we can get rid of PFAS.”

Official state horse of Iowa 

The American cream draft horse would be the official state horse of Iowa if the House chooses to advance Senate Joint Resolution 2010.

This bill notes the American cream draft horse is the only draft horse breed native to the United States and that its bloodline can be traced back to a horse in rural Hamilton County.

Sweeney, who introduced the bill, said adopting the horse as the official state horse would “embody” the state’s upcoming celebration of the 250-year anniversary of the United States.

The joint resolution passed with a vote of 43-2. Sens. Bill Dotzler, D-Waterloo, and Dave Sires, R-Cedar Falls, voted against the measure.

Lifejackets

The Senate also passed Senate File 548 to allow passengers over the age of 18 to ride on personal watercraft, like a jet ski, without wearing personal flotation devices.

Current code specifies that all operators and passengers must wear a personal floatation device while on a personal water craft. The bill would permit older passengers to go without a life jacket if the personal water craft is moving at a no-wake speed or at a speed of 10 miles per hour or less.

The bill advanced with a vote of 29-17.

This story was posted March 9 on the Iowa Capital Dispatch, a part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.

Directed AI editorial cartoons by Iowa411. We could not decide which one to publish, so we posted both of them.