Letters to the Editor: Thank you times two

Thank you to Mike Frantz for his excellent letter to the editor (Feb. 12) encouraging  volunteer service with the Red Cross. The congregation I serve hosted the Red Cross shelter for those who lost their homes in the apartment complex fire. Mike, and a host of staff and volunteers from the American Red Cross, Woodbury County Emergency Management, and other helpful agencies, provided great service to our neighbors. We were privileged to be a part of the effort.

Thank you to Art Cullen  for the Feb. 12 editorial “She couldn't speak.” Lutheran Services in Iowa has earned the support of caring neighbors in every county of Iowa because of the outstanding work that they do.

Pastor David Halaas, Sioux City

Bring back Cracker Barrel

Bring back Cracker Barrel! Well, I suppose issue re-runs. It wouldn’t be difficult, just one each issue. The sheer amount of Cracker Barrel articles Don wrote paired with the Storm Lake Times’ shift to once-a-week printing means you probably won’t run out of Cracker Barrel material to entertain readers with any time soon. Besides, they don't take up much space to begin with. I do hope you consider.

Thi Ha Phyo, Storm Lake

Iowa farmers, landowners share CO2 pipeline concerns with Grassley

Last Monday, a bipartisan cohort of more than 30 landowners and farmers from across Iowa met with Senator Charles Grassley to express their frustration with Summit Carbon Solution’s proposed carbon pipeline. The hazardous liquid pipeline would traverse over 1,000 miles of Iowa farmland and require the use of eminent domain for nearly 1,000 properties. Landowners and farmers claim the project is only viable due to the government subsidies available to the carbon capture industry and urged Senator Grassley to abolish a key subsidy known as the 45Q tax credit.

As the longest serving U.S. Senator currently in Congress, constituents impacted by the carbon capture industry believe Senator Grassley can influence a change in policy to end incentives that encourage the construction of unnecessary carbon pipelines. Senator Grassley, as a member of both the Senate Budget and Senate Finance Committees, has the ability to protect the land and livelihoods of Iowa farmers by recommending 45Q be cut during the budget reconciliation process currently taking place.

During the short meeting, Bremer County farmer, Ted Junker, told Senator Grassley, “Republicans, Democrats, Independents, we've all come together to fight this carbon capture scam. Nearly 80% of Iowans are opposed to using eminent domain for carbon pipelines. This isn’t a red or blue issue. It’s a common sense issue. Destroying our cropland is not how we support agriculture. Giving our tax dollars to shareholders in foreign countries is not how we support agriculture. Allowing a company to monopolize the ethanol industry is not how we support agriculture. Stand by farmers and cut 45Q during the budget reconciliation process.”

Senator Grassley did not provide a firm position on the request.

Patty Beyer, Holstein

Do you want lead in your drinking water?

Raise your hand if you want lead in your water. No hands? We thought so.

Congress Moves to Repeal Lead Limits Imposed by Biden-Era Rules

Congress is attempting to repeal the Biden administration’s groundbreaking rules that require all the country’s very old lead pipes to be replaced over the next 13 years and to lower the limit of lead in water. The repeal, if successful, would in effect prohibit the government from ever requiring lead line replacement in the future, or lowering lead limits. The rule is being targeted via the Congressional Review Act, which gives Congress and incoming administrations 60 legislative days to consider undoing any last-minute rules implemented by a previous administration. Already, legislators have introduced a resolution that is the first step in CRA repeals. While the deal is not done and requires congressional approval, repealing the rule through the CRA is filibuster-proof. The EPA estimated the stricter standard will prevent up to 900,000 infants from having low birthweight, save about 200,000 IQ points in children and avoid up to 1,500 premature deaths annually from heart disease. However, the water utility and chemical industries lobbied hard against the lead rules, claiming they “are not feasible,” and a water utility industry lobbyist was nominated to help lead the EPA’s water division. Polling has found lead replacement rules have a 90% approval rating among all Americans.

Yes, we are among that 90% and it's likely you are, too. WHY? The new Congress needs to rethink its priorities. No American, especially a baby or child, should be made to suffer from higher lead levels in their drinking water.

Brad Trom, Dodge County Concerned Citizens, Blooming Prairie, Minn.

Thanking our veterans on 100 years of VA research

While the Department of Veterans Affairs wasn’t formally established until 1930, the VA’s predecessor the Veterans’ Bureau started a small internal research program in February 1925. Since it’s humble beginnings 100 years ago through to today, VA research has contributed greatly to the health of Veterans and our entire nation.

VA research was responsible for the first decisive trials of effective treatment for tuberculosis “TB” and proving that treating high blood pressure saves lives. Have you ever gone to the doctor and they ordered a “CAT scan?”

Well, the concept of a CAT Scan was developed in VA. And many of us are getting old (well all of us are) and sometimes our heart beats a little slow. Well, if you have an implantable pacemaker in your heart, you can thank the Veterans who participated in these studies.

That all sounds amazing, and it is, but VA research continues to this day in our state. At the Iowa City VA, researchers have shown that using ultraviolet light emitting robots to help clean patient rooms reduces infections in hospitals by 20%. Other Iowa City researchers have been leaders in the implementation of telemedicine doctor visits and supporting broadband internet access for rural Veteran’s.

All of this is to say thank you to the Department of Veteran Affairs, VA researchers and particularly our nations Veterans over the past 100 years for their service on the battlefield and their commitment towards improving medical care through research when they return home. The VA and VA research would not exist if it weren’t for the clinician researchers who serve our Veterans at the bedside and in the laboratory and the men and women who enlist in the military to protect us all.

Eli Perencevich, Iowa City