(Radio Iowa) – Alliant Energy is seeking a construction permit for a project in northern Kossuth County that would add a battery storage system to the Golden Plains Wind Farm. Alliant Project Manager Justin Foss says the system would be between Lakota and Buffalo Center. “We are trying to urgently respond to rapidly growing demand on our system and the overall power grid a whole,” Foss says. The Iowa Utilities Commission approved the battery storage project this fall and Alliant is now seeking a local permit. If approved, construction would begin early next year.

The Golden Plains Wind Farm went online in March of 2020. Its 82 wind turbines are located in northern Kossuth and Winnebago Counties, producing around 200 Megawatts of electricity. That’s enough to power an average of 73,000 homes each year.

DES MOINES, Iowa (IOWA CAPITAL DISPATCH) – Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird and attorneys general from 24 additional states are urging the U.S. Supreme Court to issue a stay on California emissions reporting laws. The states allege, in the amici curiae filed, the California laws would impose an “illegal greenhouse gas disclosure policy” and would cause “nightmarish compliance costs and liability on companies across the country.”

In 2023, California enacted laws that require businesses of a certain size to submit greenhouse gas emissions reports and reports on the measures the business planned to adopt to reduce their climate-related financial risk. The brief from the states said California is “trying to be the national regulator of American greenhouse gas emissions—but for many reasons it may not do so.”

The State of Iowa and several other states that also signed onto Bird’s brief, have already sued the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over a similar law that sought to impose emissions reporting standards. That case is still being litigated, but the attorneys general allege the California law seeks to step in and do the same thing the states objected to at the federal level.

The brief said the California law, which would impact businesses outside of the state with revenues above a certain level, requires businesses to express a “certain viewpoint on the highly controversial issue area of climate change.” It said even if a business believes the climate-related “doomsday scenarios” are unlikely, it has to submit reports about how it plans to respond to the effects of a changing climate. The brief alleges the California laws are illegal because they compel speech from these companies on a topic they may want to avoid speaking on.

It also alleges the laws would impose “irreparable economic harm on other states.” The brief estimates out-of-state businesses would incur “millions” in auditing and reporting costs for emissions that are outside of California’s borders. Businesses with more than $1 billion in annual revenue that do business in California are required by the law to disclose “comprehensive greenhouse gas emissions” along their supply chains. Business with $500 million in annual revenue that do business in the state will have to supply biennial climate-related financial risk reports that are publicly available.

California’s enacted Senate Bill 261 says climate change is affecting California communities and economy with wildfires, sea level rise, extreme droughts and extreme weather events. According to the California statute, mandatory disclosures set by law will help to “ensure a sustainable, resilient, and prosperous future” for the state.

Bird said in a news release Monday about the amici curiae that “California needs to stay in California.” The attorneys’ brief is in support of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America’s suit against the chair of the California Air Resources Board. The parties involved requested, Nov. 10, an emergency injunction prohibiting the enforcement of the California laws, which are set to go into effect Jan. 1, 2026.

(Radio Iowa) – The Emmet County Board of Supervisors will consider hiring another attorney to review a proposed settlement that would resolve the lawsuit over a wind farm in the northwest Iowa county. Late last year the Emmet County Board of Adjustment denied a permit for Chicago-based Invenergy’s proposed Red Rock Energy Wind Center. The company sued Emmet County rather than refile for a permit under a new ordinance that requires greater distances between wind turbines and homes.

David Fauch, an attorney who represents Emmet County Concerned Citizens, is urging the board not to settle with the company and let the case go to trial. “What happened behind closed doors is clear from the settlement agreement. There were monetary threats made by Invenergy and Red Rock against this county, millions of dollars we are told and then a settlement agreement was entered into.

That settlement agreement is wildly one sided,” Fauch said. “…A bully has come in and the other side has simply folded…What you are buying yourselves is not peace. What you are buying yourselves is a mess.” Fauch spoke during a public hearing late last week.

Eric Updegraff, the attorney who’s been representing Emmet County officials in negotiations, also spoke. He’s warning that state law generally favors the free use of property and conditional use permit applications like the one for the wind farm likely need to meet just one and not all of the standards outlined in state law. “If there’s any ambiguity or uncertainty in your ordinance, then it will be construed against restrictions on land use,” Updegraff said.

The Emmet County Board of Supervisors will convene this (Tuesday) morning and their agenda calls for considering hiring an additional attorney to review the proposed settlement with developers of the Red Rock Energy Center. A previous draft of the agenda had indicated the supervisors were likely to vote on whether to approve the settlement.

Cass County: Corn $4.02 Beans $10.70
Adair County: Corn $3.99 Beans $10.73
Adams County: Corn $3.99 Beans $10.69
Audubon County: Corn $4.01 Beans $10.72
East Pottawattamie County: Corn $4.05 Beans $10.70
Guthrie County: Corn $4.04 Beans $10.74
Montgomery County: Corn $4.04 Beans $10.72
Shelby County: Corn $4.05 Beans $10.70

Oats: $2.63 (same in all counties)

(Prices are per bushel; information is from the area Farm Service Agency [FSA] offices)

Cass County: Corn $4.02 Beans $10.70
Adair County: Corn $3.99 Beans $10.73
Adams County: Corn $3.99 Beans $10.69
Audubon County: Corn $4.01 Beans $10.72
East Pottawattamie County: Corn $4.05 Beans $10.70
Guthrie County: Corn $4.04 Beans $10.74
Montgomery County: Corn $4.04 Beans $10.72
Shelby County: Corn $4.05 Beans $10.70

Oats: $2.63 (same in all counties)

(Prices are per bushel; information is from the area Farm Service Agency [FSA] offices)

(Radio Iowa) – A world-renown photographer and cinematographer who merges art and science through visual stories will make his first-ever stop in Iowa this week to share his out-of-this-world slide show called Earth After Dark. As part of the National Geographic Explorer Series, Babak Tafreshi says he strives to create a visual portal to the universe that can reconnecting the general public to the night sky and the natural world around us — and above us. “We are disconnected due to light pollution and a busy lifestyle today and a majority of humanity, especially in the developed world, are living under an artificial sky,” Tafreshi says. “Our Milky Way, for example, is no longer visible.”

From meteor showers to lightning bugs that emerge at dusk on neighborhood streets, he says our eyes open a little wider when we see the stunning photos and videos that display the abundant life in the darkness. “Life at Night is about nocturnal animals, their natural behavior,” the Iranian-American says, “and how light pollution is impacting and changing biodiversity, from fireflies to sea turtles to pets and migratory birds.” Tafreshi, a National Geographic contributor since 2012, created The World At Night program in 2007 with the message of “One People, One Sky” and he directing its team of photographers in some 30 countries. He’s bringing his fascinating visual program to the Des Moines Civic Center on Tuesday night.

Photo by Babak Tafreshi

“It starts with astronomy and the space wonders, zooming from the earth to the universe,” Tafreshi says. “Many of these documentary-style photographs at night are from variety of landmarks and World Heritage sites around the world. And then we merge into the impact of light pollution and the conservation story on animals at nighttime.” Tafreshi says he’s spent his career documenting wildlife, humanity, and the cosmos — from dark national parks to bright urban areas — with the belief that people everywhere can connect through the shared experience of simply looking up.

https://www.desmoinesperformingarts.org/whats-on/events/2025-26/national-geographic-live/earth-after-dark

(Lewis, IA) – The Cass County Conservation Board has announced a Bat House Workshop will take place this coming Saturday, Nov. 22nd, at Outdoor Educational Classroom near Massena. The workshop begins at 11-a.m.  The Board suggests a donation of $15 per bat house. All ages are welcome to attend and participate, but children must be accompanied by an adult. During the Bat House Workshop, you”ll learn all about Iowa’s bats, and build a small bat house or purchase a kit. Please pre-register by Monday, November 17th, by calling 712-769-2372 or email lkanning@casscoia.us !

A constructed bat house (Cass County Conservation Dept. photo)

The Cass County Conservation Board is also holding a Nature Journaling Workshop next Saturday, at the Outdoor Educational Classroom in Massena. The Journaling Workshop begins at 1-p.m., and is free of charge. All ages are welcome, and again children must be accompanied by an adult. Learn all about nature journaling and techniques we can use. You will also make and take a journal home with you!

Find the Outdoor Educational Classroom by taking Highway 148 south of Massena, Turn Left on Tucson Road and follow it East for about two miles before turning right into the parking lot.

Please pre-register for one or both programs by November 17th. The CCCB hopes you will join Conservation Staff for the educational activities.

(A report by the Iowa Capital Dispatch) – An Iowa Department of Natural Resources study on food waste in the state found that Iowans on average, throw away 200 pounds of food each year.  The study identified a number of ways that households and businesses can reduce their food waste and in turn, help food insecure households, the environment and the economy.  Preventing food waste by producing, buying and serving only what is needed is the best way, according to the study, to reduce food waste.  Other methods it identified include donating or upcycling food before it goes bad, feeding it to animals and livestock, composting food scraps or putting them through an anaerobic digestion system and applying the product to the land.  Some of these solutions, according to the report, can be implemented in the near future while others have a longer start-up time, or require changes in state and local policies.

DNR determined in a 2022 study of landfill materials that food waste, comprising unsold food from stores, table scraps, uneaten prepared food, kitchen trimmings and byproducts from food and beverage processing facilities, was the number one material in Iowa landfills. The same study found that 19% of landfill material in Iowa is loose or packaged food waste. Of the average 200 pounds of food per year per person that Iowans dispose of at home, 25% is still packaged. When including commercial food waste into the calculation, Iowans dispose of 300 pounds of food waste, per person, per year. The Iowa rate is lower than the average rate for the U.S., which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates is between 492 to 1,032 pounds per person per year.

EPA also estimates the average family throws away about $3,000 worth of food, or 11% of household food expenditures, annually.  Further, the study said food waste emits air pollutants as it sits in solid waste landfills. The best way to reduce food waste that ends up in landfills is to manage the amount of waste in homes and businesses, according to the study, which suggests also, that at home, residents: eat their leftovers, keep track of the items in their refrigerators and pantries, plan meals, be creative with meals to use what is about to spoil, store food properly and purchase in quantities that can be consumed before they spoil. Restaurants can audit their waste streams and adjust their menus, wholesale orders and portion sizes to reduce food waste.

The study points out that while households and commercial businesses throw out food, 1 in 8 Iowans face food insecurity. Food banks and food pantries often receive donations from grocery stores or wholesalers of food that is about to pass its expiration date, which can be one way of  reducing food waste. The study surveyed six food-rescue organizations in Iowa, including Food Bank of Iowa, which accepted more 26 million pounds of rescue food in 2023 to be distributed across its 55-county region. The surveyed organizations identified that the majority of this food is able to be used and given out at food pantries, though the process presents some barriers. It’s difficult to always provide culturally relevant foods and some stores are reluctant to donate their food for fear of being held liable for accidentally donating spoiled food.

Based on the information gleaned from the study, DNR recommends the state improve education and training strategies around food donation, establish requirements for certain businesses to donate food and increase tax credits available for donating food.  Composting is another strategy for reducing food waste. The study found that in 2024, approximately 2,925 tons of food waste were managed with composting in Iowa.  This means, per the study, that most facilities are operating “well below” permitted limits and that the state’s composting capacity is “not being fully utilized.”  Surveyed facilities cited permitting, contamination due to the inclusion of non-compostable items like glass or plastic, and cost as the major limiting factors to increasing compost capacity.

Solutions presented by the study include: legislative requirements to compost food for certain businesses, partnerships to purchase or rent composting equipment, grants and incentives to pre-process food waste. Once food scraps are composted, the study found that waste facilities generally do not have a hard time selling the compost to homeowners, businesses and farmers that want to apply the nutrient-rich product to their fields and gardens. Similar to composting, anaerobic digestion also breaks down food scraps into a usable product: biogas. According to the study, some Water Resource Recovery Facilities in Iowa pull organic material from wastewater streams and process it via anaerobic digestion. Of the nine sites surveyed by the study, four use the produced biogas onsite for things like heating boilers and electricity generation, while others sold the biogas.

The study suggests greater development, marketing and procurement of the practice at facilities in the state to help manage food waste. The study points out that composting facilities and wastewater facilities with anaerobic digestion are concentrated to areas of higher population in the state, which means some regions don’t have access to these processes. There are only five composting facilities in Iowa and three water resource recovery facilities that accept food waste.DNR noted that residents and businesses can add smaller compost or anaerobic digestion infrastructure on site or in their backyards to help reduce food waste that ends up in a landfill.

Another solution the study suggested is the implementation of a “sharing table” at schools. This practice has been implemented in other states and allows students to put their un-opened packaged food on a table in the cafeteria to be donated, rather than tossing it in the garbage. The study also called for greater education in schools around food waste, and incentives to businesses that implement food reduction efforts.  DNR said it plans to continue to measure food waste in Iowa to “to assess effectiveness of the State’s efforts to reduce food waste.”

The study was funded through an EPA Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling grant.

(Radio Iowa) – A retired University of Iowa researcher who leads a non-profit group focused on water quality issues is exploring a run for Iowa Secretary of Agriculture. Chris Jones, a Democrat, is the author of The Swine Republic, a collection of essays about agricultural pollution that was published as a book in 2023. “I don’t see any other candidates in either party trying to tackle or embrace these issues that we have in Iowa, you know, with our water and the environment in general,” Jones said. “I think it’s frustrating for people to read about the condition of their environmental day after day after day and politicians won’t address it.” Jones lives near Lansing in the northeast corner of Iowa. He is president of the Driftless Water Defenders, a group formed to focus attention on agricultural runoff into Iowa lakes and streams. Jones says Iowa’s alarming cancer rate — the second highest in the nation and one of only two states where it’s growing — has changed the conversation.

“We know that there’s multiple drivers of disease, right? And so it’s very difficult to pin a disease like cancer onto one thing,” Jones said, “but we also know that we’re sort awash in chemicals here, right? And we know the research is out there that shows nitrate in drinking water is a driver of cancer.” Jones says Iowa’s agriculture sector needs to diversify. “We can’t get the environmental outcomes that we want with only two crops on the landscape. We have two species covering 75% of our land area in Iowa. We’re never going to get good water when that’s the case,” Jones said. “We need a diversity of economy. We’ve got way too much invested in ethanol.” Jones says the ethanol industry produces way too few jobs when compared to the 11-thousand square miles of land planted with corn that’s used to produce ethanol.

Chris Jones

“That’s less than one job per square mile on the best land on earth. That’s ridiculous,” Jones said. “We need to think about something different than ethanol. We need to think about something different about CAFOs.” Iowa has at least four-thousand confined animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, according to the latest E-P-A data. Jones has formed an exploratory committee which allows him to start raising money for a potential campaign. Jones says he’ll decide in January whether to take the next step and run for office. Jones was a research engineer for the Iowa Institute of Hydraulic Research at the University of Iowa for eight years before his retirement in May of 2023. Jones graduated from Simpson College in 1983 with a degree in chemistry and biology and earned a doctorate in analytical chemistry from Montana State University.