News

Iowa farmers happy, relieved by lawsuit dismissal

Iowa farm groups and farmers say they’re happy and relieved by the dismissal of the Des Moines Water Works lawsuit against three northwest Iowa counties.

“What we’ve been saying all along is a litigious scheme such as that really erodes momentum and cooperation around the need to make meaningful and long-term improvements in water quality,” says Iowa Soybean Association spokesman Aaron Putze.

The court’s decision, Putze says, “puts momentum back behind the job at hand—and that is to increase the scale and the pace of adoption of conservation practices for the betterment of all Iowans.”

Jolene Riessen of Ida Grove, president of the Sac-Ida Corn Growers chapter, says the lawsuit had potential implications for all farmers.

“Not only in the state of Iowa, but for farmers across the United States, to maybe have to be putting some systems in place that were going to be expensive and burdensome, especially to a farm family,” Riessen says.

In the decision announced Friday, a federal district judge dismissed the lawsuit saying that it is up to the Iowa Legislature to set water quality standards.

AUDIO: Aaron Putze

 

AUDIO: Jolene Riessen