Scott, Cedar and Muscatine County landowners have more power than legislators to stop carbon waste pipelines planned through the counties, said two state legislators eager to see Iowa eliminate eminent domain as an option for developers.
Rep. Bobby Kaufmann, R-Wilton, and Sen. Kerry Gruenhagen, R-Walcott, spoke 90 minutes with nine constituents at the Bennett American Legion beginning 8:30 a.m. Saturday, and later, held a similar forum in Clarence.
In Bennett, the lawmakers took seven formal questions, but fielded many more in a lively discussion that focused mainly on the pipeline, education and tax cuts.
Pipeline: ‘Don’t sell’
Kaufmann urged all local landowners, “to just say no,” to Wolf Carbon Solutions.
“Don’t sell for any reason. You have more power than Kerry and I combined,” he said.
Wolf declared to the Iowa Utilities Board, and the public it will not use eminent domain to force court-ordered easements or sales.
That pledge differentiates Wolf from western Iowa’s Summit and Navigator pipeline projects.
“Wolf has publicly said they won’t seek eminent domain. They could be lying. We’ll see. If they choose to seek eminent domain, that will be the best thing for landowners. Them going back on their word would have major consequences.”
In the meantime Kaufmann said he expected the legislature will do nothing this year to slow Summit Pipeline plan for western Iowa.
He predicted the Iowa Utilities Board will accommodate Summit’s plan.
“They’re going to approve it. They’ve stacked the board,” Kaufmann said. “I’ve never wanted to be more wrong than I do now.”
Bennett resident Beverly Green asked about the pipeline and what government might do about it. “From what I understand from the paper, the Muscatine supervisors risk a lawsuit against the county. It’s fine line of not interfering with the free market system, but also public interest in making sure sometimes you need to interfere. At some point, someone needs to protect the rights of property owners who don’t want to be involved.”
Scott County supervisors, discussed, then dropped local carbon pipeline regulations over fear of a lawsuit.
Kaufmann said protecting property rights is his No. 1 priority and should be the legislature’s as well.
He noted the succession of initiatives, beginning with the Iowa Clean Line, to buy up farmland and easements for utility projects.
“I’m sick of the whack-a-mole approach. We beat somebody, and someone else comes right back up, bigger and better,” Kaufmann said.
Gruenhagen said the Wolf proposal, “is not going through as smoothly as they had planned.”
He noted the Senate last year passed a bill limiting eminent domain. The House did not act, and it hasn’t been debated this year. “Nobody has come together on the same page because of so many subcommittees. It will come up again as a topic,” said Gruenhagen.
Kaufmann, an early and ardent supporter of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, said he would advise Iowa’s GOP caucus winner that opposition to eminent domain, “be a litmus test” for Supreme Court justices.
Bennett resident Ruth Ann Salzberg, had doubts. “I don’t have confidence in the Supreme Court,” she said.
Kaufmann said the issue is clouded with misinformation. “There are legislators who have told me if the bill passes, corn will drop to $2 per bushel. If the carbon market is the reason for our corn market, we’re all gonna die,” he said.
Salzberg said she is perplexed. “Ethanol was treated as clean energy, and now it’s not?”
Area Education Agency reform
Both legislators said they are eager to reform Iowa’s Area Education Agencies, and Kaufmann said Gov. Reynolds made their work much harder.
Beverly Green, of Bennett asked about AEAs, which the governor targeted for cuts in her condition of the state speech that kicked off the legislative session.
Kaufmann said that was the first he’d heard about it.
“The governor did a really bad job of rolling this out. The uproar is absolutely justified,” he said. “The political side of things matters. I’m trying to reset the process. Closing AEAs is a terrible idea.”
The governor’s surprise generated 803 emails for Kaufmann, almost all against it. “That’s more than I got for abortion, guns and gender issues combined.”
He said reform should have been addressed, “by a working group, including AEA, educators, parents and the governor. But all you’re hearing is Republicans are closing the AEA.”
Gruenhagen said he’s interested in reform because of the state’s lagging test scores for special education students. He said federal department of education will begin inspecting Iowa schools because of those low scores.
“That is what is prompting this,” Gruenhagen said. He said parents have told them they’ve found better education for their special education kids in private schools. He said he’d like the funding to follow students, not go straight to AEA.
“Parents say there is no comparison what they get from private tutors than from the AEA.
The AEA should not be outperformed. Statewide testing has shown there is a need, yet our expense on special needs students is higher than surrounding states,” Gruenhagen said.
But he cautioned: “Don’t take anything I say as support for the bill. I haven’t seen it.”
Reynolds pledged changes and Kaufmann said she sent a 114-page amendment Friday night, that he had yet to read.
“I know I’m being hard on her, but I’ll be nice because she came out with a 114 page amendment. My only question is, will it be better for kids? I don’t know that I trust the Department of Education. I have more trust in Bennett and Tipton school boards than the Department of Education.”
Women’s issues
Susan Stoefen, of rural Stockton, asked about issues pertaining to women, including rescinding the gender balance rule for locally appointed boards.
“Gender balance is a response to a court case forcing our hand,” Gruenhagen said. A federal district judge this month outlawed the rule in a case involving gender requirement for Iowa’s judicial nominating commission.
Stoefen, treasurer for the Scott County’s Democratic party central committee, also asked about bill that would define the female gender.
“Nothing in it asks about what is a man. People are trying to tell us what we are and who we should be,” she said.
Kaufmann said the bill is an annual request of Rep. Jeff Shipley, who seeks to remove gender distinction protections from Iowa’s civil rights code.
“One individual filed the bill every year. He finally got a subcommittee, but it’s not going anywhere,” Kaufmann said. “The bill is flawed in how it defines a woman. It’s strange and it’s not going anywhere.”
He said he believes, “there is not even a microscopic chance of debate that there are more than two genders. Should we ostracize trans people? Absolutely not. But if a six-foot-three-inch guy with a huge Adams apple wearing a dress goes in a girl’s bathroom, I’ll be in jail. It’s ludicrous and defies logic and common sense.”
Stoefen replied: “We shouldn’t be defining at all. We’re all human beings.”
How to write your lawmaker
Ever feel compelled to write your legislator?
Avoid mass emailing a letter copied from elsewhere, two lawmakers aid.
Rep. Bobby Kaufmann and Sen. Kerry Gruenhagen say they rely on constituents contact, and offered this advice on the best way to reach lawmakers.
Write your owner email letter. “I don’t go for form letters. If you don’t put any thought into this, I won’t be putting the time in,” Kaufmann said.
Put a specific bill number or issue in the email subject line. The lawmakers said staff prioritize specific contacts.
Focus on your local legislator. “Those are the emails we read first,” Kaufmann said.