Obradovich: Does it take threats for lawmakers to fix water quality?.
It was only after the Des Moines Water Works sued several rural drainage districts over nitrate pollution that the governor proposed a new source of money for voluntary water-quality programs.
After the Water Works lawsuit was dismissed, lawmakers continued to work on the water quality bill.
Some farmers wanted lawmakers to get serious about water quality this year.
“That is certainly something we’ll look at,” he said, when a reporter asked him about keeping the center open at Iowa State University in light of the Legislature’s failure to address water quality this year.
“We haven’t made any decision and obviously, we don’t have those appropriation bills yet.
The Leopold Center, celebrating its 30th year as a resource for farmers on soil and water conservation and organic production, was eliminated in the budget approved by the Legislature.
Lawmakers not only cut $300,000 in state money and redirected about $1.5 million in fee revenue away from the center but also approved language requiring it to close.
Why keep harping on the Leopold Center?
The state dollars leverage about $3 million a year in ongoing research grants.