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In March Jill posted here about a very bad bill the Iowa Senate approved relating to the application of manure on frozen or snow-covered ground. Environmentalists were outraged by Senate File 432, which was a blatant attempt to circumvent rulemaking by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
You'll be pleased to know that amendments greatly improved Senate File 432 before the final version passed the Iowa House in April. Governor Chet Culver then signed the bill into law, and it takes effect today along with a bunch of other measures approved during the 2009 Iowa legislative session.
On principle I dislike legislative efforts to interfere with DNR rulemaking. However, knowledgeable people tell me that the new law includes tougher restrictions on liquid manure application than the rules that the DNR would have eventually produced. So, this law is on balance good news for water quality in Iowa and downstream from us.
It's important to note that these restrictions apply only to liquid manure, which comes from hogs. Iowa's cattle farmers face no new limits on spreading solid manure over frozen or snow-covered ground. I've been told that cattle farmers turned out in large numbers for the DNR's public hearings on the winter application rules.
Policy wonks can find the full text of Iowa Senate File 432 and bill history here.
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