Environmental Protection Commission to Vote on Detrimental Changes to CAFO Rules on Tuesday

Des Moines, IA.  As part of the Executive Order 10 process, the Environmental Protection Commission (EPC) is set to hear comments and vote on a weaker set of rules for Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO). The proposed rules ignore a majority of input from environmental experts from the Sierra Club Iowa Chapter and many of the public comments, and are detrimental to Iowa’s water quality.

“The overarching basis for rejection was cited as the comments were ‘beyond the scope of Executive Order 10,’ but there was no explanation as to why the comments were beyond the scope of Executive Order 10.” Said Wally Taylor, Legal Chair for the Sierra Club Iowa Chapter. “Executive Order 10 places dictatorial powers in the hands of the Governor and makes public input and the Commission's rulemaking authority irrelevant.”