Posted July 14, 2014
On Friday, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled the 2009 Iowa Environmental Protection Commission water quality regulations valid, according to an SF Gate article by the Associated Press available here. The Des Moines Register also published an article available here. The Iowa Farm Bureau Federation (IFBF) also published a press release here.
The lawsuit was filed by (IFBF) and other farm and business organizations against the commission in an attempt to disqualify two of the commissioners’ votes and get the regulations thrown out. Commission members Carrie La Seur and Susan Heathcote were appointed by former Democratic Gov. Chet Culver.
In 2012, Polk County District Court Judge Mary Pat Gunderson ruled that the commissioners’ votes were valid and the rules were “properly enacted,” according to the Des Moines Register.
The court also ruled that the water rules should remain in place.
“The disqualification of a commission member does not invalidate the action taken by the commission when the particular disqualification did not undermine the integrity of the process, and when the public interest supports validating the rule despite the disqualification,” wrote Chief Justice Mark Cady in an opinion for the majority of justices.
Justices Thomas Waterman, Edward Mansfield, and Bruce Zager disagreed with the four-justice majority on the La Seur portion.
“I would hold that because La Seur was disqualified from voting and the commission was improperly constituted with her participating, the anti-degradation rules are void,” Waterman wrote in the dissenting opinion.
The IFBF “still believes in clean government and that good public policy requires that Iowa residents, not Montana residents, should decide Iowa law,” according a press release.
“This is about an appointed board, who is charged with the duty of representing and considering the environmental and business interests of all Iowans. A board that serves the public needs Iowans who bring various expertise and viewpoints to the table, and the court said that being paid by a lobbying organization is just another permissible bias,” said IFBF Government Relations Counsel, Christina Gruenhagen.
“Under this ruling, it is difficult to imagine a circumstance where the court will disqualify anyone from serving as an officer in the executive branch. The court also determined today that actual residency isn’t a requirement of office, even when mandated in the controlling statute.”
The water quality rules will require anyone with new or expanded wastewater discharges into waterways to be reviewed and seek permits and certification from the state,according to the Des Moines Register
For more information on water law, please visit the National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.
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