Editorial

Gov. Terry Branstad signed the last fuel tax increase in 1989. On Wednesday, he approved a bill increasing the gasoline tax another 10¢ per gallon to fill a $200 million hole because of declining gasoline consumption. We don’t like the idea of increasing the gas tax when we are building freeways that lead to nowhere, paved roads into towns sliding off the map and a secondary road system that was designed when every section of land had four huge families living on it.

How much will it cost to reduce the size of the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico because of excess farm nutrients flowing into the Mississippi River? $2.7 billion. How long will it take? 20 years. Where are talks between Buena Vista County and the Des Moines Water Works going over nitrate pollution in the Raccoon River? Nowhere.

A federal judge in Texas has issued a stay in President Obama’s attempt by executive order to provide temporary relief from deportation to undocumented immigrants living in the United States. Same old, same old. Up to 14 million immigrants live in the shadows, in an underground economy that involves human trafficking and counterfeit IDs, and there they shall remain indefinitely while Congress fiddles.

Politicians have talked about closing the state mental health institutes in Cherokee, Clarinda, Mount Pleasant and Independence for as long as we can remember. Clarinda and Mount Pleasant are in Gov. Terry Branstad’s crosshairs this year. We cannot argue that all four remain open in perpetuity. Needs change with the times. The governor is right about that.

Talk is not cheap. Last week representatives of Buena Vista, Calhoun and Sac counties met with representatives of the Des Moines Water Works to talk about a pending lawsuit over nitrate pollution in the Raccoon River. The water works intends to file a lawsuit by March 16 unless some agreement can be reached about mounting nitrate removal costs for the 500,000 customers/owners of DMWW.

Storm Lake Infrastructure Superintendent Pat Kelly is set to retire this summer after 33 years of making The City Beautiful more beautiful. We have told this story before, but it is worth retelling as we begin to salute him out: The Iowa Department of Natural Resources was willing to expand the dredging of Storm Lake if it could get some help from local government.

If the Buena Vista County Board of Supervisors cannot manage its regular Tuesday meeting, how is it supposed to manage a response to the biggest policy question facing Iowa agriculture? We speak, of course, about the Des Moines Water Works’ stated intention of filing a lawsuit against Buena Vista, Calhoun and Sac counties. The board was scheduled to discuss how to cooperate with Sac and Calhoun counties, and who should represent them, at 9:45 a.m.

The Iowa Department of Education has sent an unspoken message to the Laurens-Marathon School District: make plans to merge with another district such as Pocahontas Area or brace yourself for years of austerity. The state’s school budget review committee has ordered L-M to cut $1 million — or 28% — of its budget for next year after a first round of the appeal process last month. Supt.

The Iowa Legislature is in the midst of an unsettling sausage-making demonstration. Iowans love to brag up their fealty to public education while choking its throat just lightly enough so as not to allow it to breath. The governor recommended a 1% increase in aid for K-12 schools next year. The House followed with its 1.25% increase proposal. The Democrats countered at 6% in the House, unsuccessfully of course. The issue now moves to the Democrat-controlled Senate. We have no clue how the sausage looks at the other end.

We were encouraged to report Friday that virtually everyone involved in a potential lawsuit over nitrate levels in the Raccoon River is interested in some sort of negotiated settlement. We were especially interested in hearing from Buena Vista County Attorney Dave Patton and Des Moines Water Works CEO Bill Stowe that they agree that we have an issue that needs to be sorted out short of a courtroom. If those two people could meet in a room for an hour or two we would bet there would be some sort of outline for a deal.