Newsroom - 2023

IEC launches website Iowa's Declining Decade

posted 5/26/2023
As Iowa's Big Ag groups celebrate a 'Defining Decade' this month, IEC unveiled our new website 'Iowa's Declining Decade' marking the tenth anniversary of the state's Nutrient Reduction Strategy. DecliningDecade.org cuts through big ag propaganda and reminds Iowans of how little progress is actually being made on the state's pollution reduction goals through the taxpayer-funded NRS.

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IUB's ruling on Wind PRIME protects customers from risk

posted 5/1/2023
The Iowa Utilities Board issued an order on April 27 setting conditions for MidAmerican Energy's ability to move forward with its Wind PRIME project. The Board approved the project but found that MidAmerican should bear the risk of the $3.9 billion project underperforming and placed strict conditions on the utility's right to recover the project costs from customers.

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Environmental groups applaud Iowa Supreme Court decision on MidAmerican coal plant economics

posted 4/28/2023
IEC, ELPC, and Sierra Club are celebrating the Iowa Supreme Courts ruling in favor of the groups' position in a challenge to an Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) order that limited its ability to review the cost-effectiveness of MidAmerican Energy's coal plants. The court reversed the Board's order and sent the case back to the IUB.

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IEC reacts to Legislature's Ag and Natural Resources Budget changes

posted 4/26/2023
The Iowa legislature passed an Agriculture and Natural Resources budget that reduces funding for nutrient pollution research and adds changes borrowed from the unpopular anti-public lands bill that stalled earlier in the session. IEC shares thoughts on the changes and their impacts.

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IEC and ELPC Oppose MidAmerican Plan to Dump Toxins in Missouri River

posted 4/12/2023
Environmental groups submitted comments to MidAmerican Energy opposing a plan for the utility to dump toxic coal ash leachate into the Missouri River. The leachate, runoff that collects at the bottom of the site's coal ash landfill, contains dozens of toxic pollutants, including mercury, lead, arsenic, cyanide, and other toxic heavy metals.

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After months of uncertainty, schedule for Agency rules review released

posted 3/14/2023
The Reynolds Administration recently released the schedule for state agencies, boards, and commissions, including the Iowa DNR, to review rules in their respective sections of Iowa Administrative Code. Executive Order 10 placed a moratorium on any new rulemaking as part of the Governor's larger government reorganization plan, which impacted the draft AFO siting rules IEC had been advocating for.

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Newly published MidAmerican studies reveal costly inconsistencies in clean energy transition

posted 2/20/2023
In response to an IUB order, MidAmerican Energy filed new public versions of two internal studies that show solar is the lowest cost path for achieving carbon free energy and acknowledge that transitioning away from burning coal is an essential piece of achieving this goal. These studies come to light as a hearing for the approval or denial of MidAmerican's $3.9 billion Wind PRIME project gets underway at the IUB.

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MidAmerican delays study release following board order

posted 2/8/2023
IEC and partners submitted a response to an objection by MidAmerican Energy to the Iowa Utilities Board order to make internal studies public.

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Judge hears arguments in lawsuit to save Bloody Run

posted 2/2/2023
On January 20, 2023, a district court judge heard testimony in the Iowa Sierra Club's lawsuit charging the Iowa Department of Natural Resources with violating state law and departmental rules when approving Supreme Beef LLC's manure management plan. Guest writer Larry Stone provides an update following the hearing.

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IEC and groups applaud order to make MidAmerican studies public

posted 1/25/2023
On January 19, the Iowa Utilities Board issued an order in MidAmerican Energy's Wind PRIME proceeding to make public two generation planning studies MidAmerican has aggressively and repeatedly sought to keep secret from regulators and the public. The studies include an evaluation of the economics of MidAmerican's coal generating facilities and the a study of pathways to achieve zero carbon emissions electricity.

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