(C) Iowa Capital Dispatch
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Bill would allow feedlots to operate with unapproved manure plans [1]
['Jared Strong', 'More From Author', '- February']
Date: 2024-02-12
Legislation that was advanced Monday by an Iowa Senate subcommittee would allow livestock feedlots to spread manure in fields without the approval of state regulators in certain situations.
Senate Study Bill 3152 would modify state rules about nutrient management plans, which the Iowa Department of Natural Resources uses to ensure livestock operations are not applying too much manure to fields.
The plans attempt to estimate the fields’ capacity for additional nutrients that are helpful for growing crops. Exceeding that capacity can increase the likelihood that nitrate and phosphorus will flow from the fields into the state’s waterways.
Such runoff is a significant source of pollution. The state has been working for more than a decade to reduce that pollution with its Nutrient Reduction Strategy.
The new bill would allow feedlots to dispose of manure according to the plans they propose before the DNR approves them. It also allows feedlots to operate under plans that have been rejected by the DNR, pending an appeal of the rejection.
“It doesn’t make sense to allow a plan to be used that is not approved,” said Jess Mazour, of the Sierra Club of Iowa, which opposes the bill. “We have a duty to protect our environment.”
A panel of three senators who considered the bill Monday did not say specifically what prompted the proposal, but it follows a situation in Clayton County last year in which a large cattle facility was unable to dispose of its manure for months.
In April 2023, a district court judge nullified the nutrient management plan of Supreme Beef because the DNR approved it with “illogical interpretations of the statutes.”
That left the feedlot — which has about 11,600 cattle — unable to pump manure from its 39-million-gallon storage basin until November, when the DNR approved a new plan.
The bill would allow livestock facilities to temporarily apply manure to fields with no oversight, opponents of the legislation said. And challenges to DNR decisions have the potential to take months or years to settle.
“We believe that an operator should not be allowed to apply manure based on an unapproved, potentially inaccurate management plan,” said Alicia Vasto, water program director for the Iowa Environmental Council. “This will lead to more pollution of Iowa’s waterways due to improper application or overapplication of manure on farm fields that may be ineligible to receive manure.”
Sen. Tom Shipley, R-Nodaway, who led the subcommittee meeting, said an amendment has already been proposed for the bill, but he did not reveal what changes it would make.
“This has become a rather complex issue in the last couple of days,” he said.
Shipley and Sen. Jesse Green, R-Boone, recommended the bill for further consideration with the amendment. Sen. Liz Bennett, D-Cedar Rapids, said she has unspecified concerns about the bill and did not vote in favor.
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