EPC washes away the topsoil rule

Iowa's Environmental Protection Commission took a short field trip to a parking lot outside their meeting on Tuesday.

There, they saw an Iowa State University 'rain simulator” showing, clearly, how much faster water runs off sod placed on compacted clay, compared to a trickle from grass planted in rich topsoil. That's the science behind a state rule requiring builders to restore at least four inches of topsoil to finished construction sites. Control runoff, improve water quality.

Commissioners were so impressed they walked inside and voted 6-3 to scrap that topsoil rule, replacing it with vague language directing builders to restore soil 'unless infeasible.” Builders get to decide what's feasible, and where dirt goes. There's no measurable standard, and they won't be required to put topsoil on individual housing lots.

So compacted clay it is. No one on the commission asked how it would affect runoff or water quality in a state with 572 impaired waterways and counting, or if it would protect the environment.

Maybe it's because the answers are so clear. But, unfortunately, it's no simulation.

Commissioner Nancy Couser, who voted no, knew the score.

'The homeowners definitively, seven to one, are telling us this is what they want from us. They want their soil,” said Couser, citing the dozens of Iowans who wrote to the commission, describing dysfunctional yards where topsoil was hauled away by builders.

'And the homeowners get thrown under the bus,” she said.

But we've known where this bus was headed from day one.

The change was recommended by a 'stakeholder” group packed with homebuilding interests who want the topsoil rule buried. The group, hand-picked by the Branstad administration, met behind closed doors, denied access to homeowners, cities, utilities and others with a stake in the outcome and rejected any attempts at compromise. Homebuilders passed their handiwork on to the Branstad appointed EPC, which went through the motions of collecting public input before rubber-stamping a foregone conclusion. If you want to bend government for the benefit of a few at the expense of many, here's your blueprint.

'As homebuilders, we love topsoil,” Chip Classon of Jerry's Home and a member of the stakeholder group, told the commission. He and other supports of the change insisted that topsoil still would be placed somewhere on large development sites, just not on every 'postage stamp yard.” Putting it back is just too expensive, according to their own numbers.

Commissioner Bob Sinclair tried and failed to remove 'unless infeasible” and keep a measurable standard. But Commissioner Chad Ingles, who served on the packed stakeholders group, called for a motion to approve the industry-written rule. Ingles, Ralph Lents, Joe Riding, Gene Ver Steeg, Cindy Greiman and Mary Boote voted yes. Couser, Sinclair and LaQuanda Hoskins voted no.

The Legislature's Administrative Rules Review Committee will consider the change. But I don't expect much more than a speed bump.

Rather than summon the backbone to stop the governor's bus, commissioners punted the issue to cities. Department of Natural Resources Stormwater Coordinator Joe Griffin said seven cities are exploring topsoil rules in the wake of the EPC's action.

It would be rich irony if, in refusing to compromise on a reasonable state regulation, homebuilders end up facing even stronger local standards. A silver lining in that rain cloud, perhaps.

l Comments: (319) 398-8452; todd.dorman@thegazette.com