Editorials: Leading on solar

Reason and process prevailed when the Cherokee County Board of Supervisors last week reversed a moratorium on battery storage for renewable energy development. This will allow the Smith Brothers of Aurelia to develop a 200-acre solar array with attendant lithium-iron battery storage around which cattle will graze. The Smiths were able to present their own engineering expertise along with assurances from experts at Iowa State University that evolving battery technology is stable and safe.

The board was reluctant to be a pioneer in the rapidly developing field of energy storage. We’ve heard the horror stories about cellphones blowing up in your pants pocket from lithium-ion batteries. That technology does pose special hazards to firefighting. Fortunately, the Smiths are proposing a newer technology that is not fire-prone and relies less on unstable materials. Solid state, lithium-iron and sodium batteries are safer, do not rely on cobalt markets controlled by the Chinese, and the materials don’t pose the same environmental harm from mining.

The Smiths will use the batteries to store energy from their solar panels. That energy can be sold back into the grid or diverted for other power needs. Grazing cattle while selling solar is a win-win for the local economy — keeping land in grass preserves natural resources and protects surface water, which was a concern for county authorities. We need more beef!

Battery storage is less dangerous than fertilizer storage. The Smith operation poses less a threat to surface water than a standard livestock confinement.

Renewable energy is a source for a lot of misinformation and confusion on purpose because it is a direct threat to fossil fuels. The oil industry creates myths picked up by the president that would have you believe wind turbines kill geese. We are inundated with windmills and geese. The myth machine would have you believe that the flicker and whirr will drive you mad, as if cable news won’t. The goose poop accumulates around the propaganda.

Western Iowa has a lot more potential for wind and solar development if we can keep our heads clear. Cherokee County went from nowhere to leading the state with a renewable energy ordinance that is based on what is real and what we actually know. Having hooves on grass shows us the way to a more sustainable agricultural enterprise.

County officials showed a willingness to learn and change their thinking based on the facts. That should give everyone hope that Iowa can move with innovation rather than stand in its way for shadowy vested interests that oppose renewable energy at every turn. Other counties should study the Cherokee County ordinance to see how it might help them prosper with renewable energy. They did the hard work, and the region can benefit.

Time for change

A fortuitous coincidence: The Buena Vista County Bar Association posted a letter calling on the City of Storm Lake and the county to halt to their silly litigation over tax increment financing. This as Tom Grau announced that he will run as a Democrat to challenge incumbent Buena Vista County Supervisor Paul Merten, who recently switched to the Republican Party.

The local lawyers said that the city and county are wasting a tremendous amount of taxpayer money on Des Moines lawyers to fight over lost tax increment financing funds. Their letter should point directly to Supervisor Merten, who has been all too eager to blow our money just for the satisfaction of stiffing the city.

The city and county will burn well over $1 million on legal fees if this case ever heads to trial. This is coming directly from your city and county property taxes. No insurance company or dark money account is covering this one. They are fighting because they can, because We The People allow them to, not because they should.

At issue: The county messed up and sent tax revenues that were meant for the City of Storm Lake to other taxing authorities like the school district. The county refused to own up. Neither side invited an auditor to settle the matter, as far as we understand. So it went to court where lawyers can rack up fees and a judge can sort it out. The legal fees probably will exceed any judgment.

The local officials refuse to listen. We need change in city hall and the courthouse.

Merten wants war. Grau wants a truce. We have spent enough already. Neither side is listening to reason. Voters can impose it by electing Grau in November. Change can start with the board of supervisors. It might spread across the street to city hall if the city council ever summons its good sense and fortitude. It must start with the public demanding accountability.

The bar association understands as well as anybody how draining and pointless this litigation is. We should pay attention and hold a house cleaning starting this fall.

Shifting tax burden

Missouri voters on Aug. 4 overwhelmingly (83.4%) rejected a state constitutional amendment that would have eliminated the state income tax and shifted the obligation to the sales tax. Although not directly on point, a similar question faces Iowa voters on the November general election ballot: Shall we amend the state constitution to require a two-thirds vote of the legislature to increase the income tax?

A Suffolk University poll of Iowa likely voters last week showed 33% supporting the amendment, 36% against and the rest undecided. Many people don’t pay attention to elections until after Labor Day.

The legislature over the years has reduced and flattened the income tax at 3.8%. Corporations and the wealthy want to lock in the tax savings with a constitutional amendment. The legislature also has attempted to restrict property tax increases. That leaves the sales tax and fees to make up the difference for public schools, health care, safe streets and clean water.

Simultaneously, lawmakers increased spending on pet projects like private schools vouchers. The result is a structural annual deficit of more than $1 billion, which is illegal and impractical once savings accounts are exhausted in a couple years. Sales taxes and fees will balloon such that you won’t be able to afford bait with your fishing license or beer for the taxes.

This is a trajectory that Kansas took with former Gov. Sam Brownback, a zealous Republican who broke the schools. Voters replaced him with a Democrat. Missouri voters paid attention, not wishing for the same fiscal crisis, and voted to maintain taxing flexibility.

Iowa probably will need to increase or unflatten the income tax to solve chronic deficits.

We would not need to amend the constitution to protect us from legislators if we elected actual fiscal conservatives. We do not. We elected a bunch of social activists who throw money around like sailors on leave — a center for intellectual freedom at the University of Iowa, for Pete’s sake.

Legislators will not let the state auditor probe vouchers or just about anything else. They stripped his office of its power so the governor can run roughshod.

We need to get our good senses back and elect people who regard tax money as a finite resource. We should elect county supervisors who don’t blow money on expensive lawyers. We should elect legislators who would not force Alta to build a new library. We should use some common sense and say that rich folks in West Des Moines do not need a voucher so their kid can attend Dowling. Vouchers have done very little for St. Mary’s School, our alma mater. At least, we should let the state auditor audit.

No constitutional amendment can contain the grift. It takes political leaders with integrity who can squeeze a dime, which we had in Harold Hughes, Bob Ray, Terry Branstad (first iteration), Tom Vilsack and Chet Culver. The city and county did work together once. The whole point of government was not to obliterate the opponent and seek power at all cost.

Now the powerful are seeking tax breaks above all else. It will mean a huge shift of burden onto the backs of the working class who pay the sales tax. Voters in Kansas and Missouri figured it out. Iowa voters should, too. We control spending by electing smart people of integrity, not by trying to create a fiscal straitjacket with a constitutional amendment.