Iowa House Kills Flood Prevention Bill
While our legislators in the Iowa House were busy giving $15 million to Warren Buffet and MidAmerican Energy, (see Paul Deaton's post below) they have oddly decided that there is no money in the budget for better managing Iowa's flood plains to prevent future flooding to our farms and communities, something that is very likely to occur, given the reality of global climate change, increasing weather extremes, and urbanization of the natural environment.
I can imagine a future scenario where the nay sayers to this important legislation will be one day quoted as saying, “Nobody could have predicted….” Sound familiar?
From Senator Joe Bolkcom's newsletter, The Networker:
Last week, I reported that the Senate passed SF 2316, a bill to prevent future flood damage to communities and farms by better managing our flood plains. The very modest bill squeaked by on a vote of 26-20. Senator Rob Hogg (D-Cedar Rapids) has championed this effort in response to the 2008 Iowa floods.
This week the bill was pronounced dead in the Iowa House. See who opposed the bill. As we continue to struggle with 2008 flood recovery and with spring flooding predicted throughout Iowa, this is an amazingly short-sighted defeat.
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