Editorial

There he goes again. Gov. Terry Branstad on Monday was asked at his weekly press conference about not wanting any of the estimated 57,000 homeless Latin American children to be held even temporarily in Iowa. The governor repeated his false assertion: “The federal government needs to secure the border and expedite the process to send them back as quickly as possible.”

Of course, he blamed the humanitarian crisis on President Obama.

A Texas energy company wants to run an oil pipeline from North Dakota to Illinois with Storm Lake right along the route. So we emailed and called Energy Transfer Partners to determine what the precise route is. Will it go near the lake or the city? Or will it be several miles from town? The company claims it has notified all land owners along the proposed route. But representatives have yet to tell us, at least, where the pipe will go. We do not understand why.

What else could Gov. Terry Branstad say when asked Monday whether Iowa would accept homeless children from Latin America caught trying to enter Texas illegally? “The first thing we want is to secure the border,” the Iowa Republican said at his Monday press conference. This is an election year, and that is the election line.

Secure the border.

The Des Moines Register was pretty tough on Sac County Attorney Ben Smith in a couple recent editorials for attempting to deny Tracey Richter a source of income while she serves a life sentence in prison for murdering Dustin Wehde in Early 13 years ago. The Register objected to Smith cleaning out Richter’s commissary and phone accounts as she owes the state more than $200,000 in court costs and victim restitution.

The Iowa Lakes Corridor Development Board has a good opportunity with the installation of a new director to reassess how it does business. Iowa Lakes is supposed to be the primary economic development recruiter for Buena Vista, Clay, Dickinson and Emmet counties. It is not clear to us that the unit of regional government has been much of a benefit to Storm Lake in particular and the county in general. It appears to us to be a networking unit for Dickinson and Clay counties.

A big milestone was reached Monday when Quad County Corn Processors produced the first gallon of ethanol made from cellulose from a new technology developed in Galva. The ethanol plant will produce up to 35 million gallons of ethanol made from parts of the corn kernel previously used for feed in conventional ethanol production. The $9 million investment into this bolt-on technology also will allow the producer-owned facility to greatly expand its production of corn oil.

Dr. Eugene Takle is Iowa’s foremost expert on climate change and its impact on agriculture.  He is the director of the climate science program at Iowa State University and is professor of atmospheric sciences. He earned a bachelor’s degree in math and physics from Luther College in Decorah and earned his PhD in solid state physics from Iowa State. He co-authored (with Jerry Hatfield of the National Soil Tilth Lab) the agricultural section of the National Climate Assessment published in May by the federal government.

This editorial from the first issue of The Storm Lake Times, June 29, 1990, expresses the philosophy that gov­erns this news­pa­per. It is published annually on the anniversary of The Times founding as an affirmation of our principles.

This could be the beginning of something good: The Cherokee County Engineer intends to retire next month, and his understudy has not yet passed all the exams to replace him. Cherokee County asked if BV County might share the expertise of Engineer Jon Ites for a few months until the deputy gets his full licensure. What are neighbors for?

Dr. Clayton Williams of Iowa State University provided a fascinating report Tuesday on how adding one or more islands to Storm Lake could reduce wind roiling the bottom sediment and improve water clarity. Adding three islands about the size of the Big Island would dramatically improve water quality and reduce turbidity (suspended sediment in the water) to meet federal clean water goals.