If President Joe Biden wonders why his approval numbers stink, he should take a look at Storm Lake. For the second time in two years, the city’s application to the Federal Emergency Management Agency to rescue our failing water system was rejected.Art Cullen’s Notebook is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Sep 25, 2023·edited Sep 25, 2023Liked by Art Cullen
To quote baseball immmortal Yogi Berra, this sounded like "deja vu all over again" and I was right. Waterloo, home to a sister IBP/Tyson plant, has always had ample water supplies becase it sits on a big aquifer. But it felt -- or smelled -- Storm Lake's pain more than 30 years ago, That's when the city was forced to spend more than $3 million to build a covered anaerobic waste treatment lagooon to handle waste from our IBP (now Tyson) plant. IBP "contributed" $500,000 to its construction and paid "fixed" wastewater treatment rates over five years while Waterloo residential customers rates were increased 65 percent over three years. The lagoon was built in lieu of improvements to the city's main wastewater treatment plant -- the stated reason for the hikes at the time the rate increases were approved. But the city had been fined by the Iowa DNR because it was out of compliance with its wastewater treatment permit-- and faced the possiblity of daily fines if it didn't do something.
Three years later, the lagoon project cost had topped out at $4 million and the DNR also said the main plant still needed improvement. And the lagoon was also taking on waste not just from IBP but from a local tannery that has opened just before IBP. Some portions of the lagoon work had been pared out of the project due to the cost overruns.
Meanwhile the city, and citizens were facing colossal costs to upgrade the main sewer plant. But on Jan. 31, 1995, U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin announced Waterloo would receive a $37 million matching grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to defray more than half the $67 million cost of plant improvements.
So apparently, there's a difference between Waterloo then and Storm Lake now: Federal help was available and there was a senator who bird-dogged the money through the legislative process.
I feel for the residents of Storm Lake and the cost of non proactive growth government. It is at this point sustainability that may be in question. Now I do feel that any blame towards Biden is unfair. His campaign promises are only as good as the tools he has to work with. Northwest Iowa have put themselves in this position. When you vote against your better interests you get no one on your side. When you have Feenstra, Nunn, Miller/Meeks, Hinson, Grassley, Ernst, Bird,and Reynolds all not going to do anything because they don't see the City of Storm Lake a priority. And certainly don't want to help the economy look better because it will make Biden look better, can't have that. How do we fix this? Well, give the voices in the dark, Rob Sand and JD Scholten teammates get ahold of Rita Hart with suggestions. We used to be able to count on a few Fred Grandy types but now we are looking at the otherside working on their project 2025 this will hamstring us all. To quicken your search it is a Heritage Foundation thing.
P.S. guess there is a couple of billion dollars left in the tax coffers oh, that's right give more tax breaks to big business and rich why build or fix anything.
To quote baseball immmortal Yogi Berra, this sounded like "deja vu all over again" and I was right. Waterloo, home to a sister IBP/Tyson plant, has always had ample water supplies becase it sits on a big aquifer. But it felt -- or smelled -- Storm Lake's pain more than 30 years ago, That's when the city was forced to spend more than $3 million to build a covered anaerobic waste treatment lagooon to handle waste from our IBP (now Tyson) plant. IBP "contributed" $500,000 to its construction and paid "fixed" wastewater treatment rates over five years while Waterloo residential customers rates were increased 65 percent over three years. The lagoon was built in lieu of improvements to the city's main wastewater treatment plant -- the stated reason for the hikes at the time the rate increases were approved. But the city had been fined by the Iowa DNR because it was out of compliance with its wastewater treatment permit-- and faced the possiblity of daily fines if it didn't do something.
Three years later, the lagoon project cost had topped out at $4 million and the DNR also said the main plant still needed improvement. And the lagoon was also taking on waste not just from IBP but from a local tannery that has opened just before IBP. Some portions of the lagoon work had been pared out of the project due to the cost overruns.
Meanwhile the city, and citizens were facing colossal costs to upgrade the main sewer plant. But on Jan. 31, 1995, U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin announced Waterloo would receive a $37 million matching grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to defray more than half the $67 million cost of plant improvements.
So apparently, there's a difference between Waterloo then and Storm Lake now: Federal help was available and there was a senator who bird-dogged the money through the legislative process.
I feel for the residents of Storm Lake and the cost of non proactive growth government. It is at this point sustainability that may be in question. Now I do feel that any blame towards Biden is unfair. His campaign promises are only as good as the tools he has to work with. Northwest Iowa have put themselves in this position. When you vote against your better interests you get no one on your side. When you have Feenstra, Nunn, Miller/Meeks, Hinson, Grassley, Ernst, Bird,and Reynolds all not going to do anything because they don't see the City of Storm Lake a priority. And certainly don't want to help the economy look better because it will make Biden look better, can't have that. How do we fix this? Well, give the voices in the dark, Rob Sand and JD Scholten teammates get ahold of Rita Hart with suggestions. We used to be able to count on a few Fred Grandy types but now we are looking at the otherside working on their project 2025 this will hamstring us all. To quicken your search it is a Heritage Foundation thing.
P.S. guess there is a couple of billion dollars left in the tax coffers oh, that's right give more tax breaks to big business and rich why build or fix anything.