Federal Judge Strikes Down Des Moines Pollution Lawsuit
By Peak Johnson
This month, a federal judge struck down the Des Moines Water Works' pollution lawsuit against drainage districts that are in three northwest Iowa counties.
According to Business Record, Water Works CEO Bill Stowe stated that “ the utility will consider what to do next, but he made it clear the ruling leaves the state with the Nutrient Reduction Strategy as its main pollution-fighting mechanism.”
The Nutrient Reduction Strategy is a document that sets forth “many possible actions but sets no timetable, monitoring system or penalties if a landowner chooses not to employ them.” Stowe has criticized the document “as indicative of state leaders' refusal to take serious action to stem pollution that drives up ratepayers' bills.”
"We are disappointed in the ruling and the court's unwillingness to recognize the profound water quality impacts that pollution from drainage districts has on Iowa waterways," Stowe said in a statement. "Perhaps the state legislature should now spend its time addressing meaningful, long-term, sustainably-funded policy solutions to our serious water problems instead of meddling in affairs best left to local communities."
Earlier this month, residents in Des Moines grilled water utilities at a public hearing at the capitol. The tension arose over a bill that would take apart the Des Moines Water Works board.
House File 484 was introduced by Iowa Rep. Jarad Klein. Those who oppose the bill, according to Iowa Public Radio, “say it is about stopping a controversial lawsuit that targets large-scale agriculture.”
“Taking assets of a public water utility is the exact kind of state government meddling that created the public health water crisis in Flint, Michigan,” Leslie Gearhart, who is against the bill and chair of the Des Moines Water Works Board, told Iowa Public Radio.
If the bill is supported and passed, Des Moines would be the only metro utility that would have their board broken up.
Business Record reported that Judge Leonard Strand's ruling “confirmed the suspicion of ag groups that a recent and related Iowa Supreme Court opinion that said Water Works couldn't recover damages from the drainage districts in Calhoun, Buena Vista and Sac counties most likely would soon lead to dismissal of the whole case.”