Iowa has big plans to take our money to support the Climate Change Agenda. Our lawmakers are encouraging wind/solar installations, excess powerlines, carbon credit compliance, ethanol, CRP (Conservation Reserve Program), electric buses, electric vehicles and charging stations all in order to stop Climate Change.
With ethanol falling out of favor for the modern Left, most of Iowa’s contributions will be in making “renewable” electricity and changing all power sources to electricity. According to a docket INU-2021-0001, a “Investigation into a comprehensive plan for Iowa’s transmission grid of the future” filed at the Iowa Utilities Board on July,2 2021 we learn these things;
-the Board understands that a generation mix that includes reliance on renewable energy without sufficient storage capacity requires additional transmission growth, However, generation in Iowa now exceeds the amount needed for Iowans. (emphasis mine)
-Iowa has become a net exporter of electric energy and the rewards of renewable energy have not led to lower energy costs. (emphasis mine)
-…the loss of prime farmland and infringement upon landowner use and enjoyment of their land are factors that continue to be raised by local governments, landowners, and residents in Iowa.
The Board also talks about the great amount of single use transmission lines being built across Iowa that are just for intermittent wind and solar.
Iowa’s General Assembly set this ball in motion with Iowa Code 476.53(1):
“to attract the development of electric power generating and transmission facilities within the state in sufficient quantity to ensure reliable electric service to Iowa consumers and provide economic benefits to the state. It is also the intent of the general assembly to encourage rate-regulated public utilities to consider altering existing generating facilities, where reasonable, to manage carbon emission intensity in order to facilitate the transition to a carbon-constrained environment.”
Even Iowa’s Left has a great enthusiasm for Iowa’s top delegation’s stance on Climate Change. In the Blog for Iowa we see letters from both Senators Grassley and Ernst touting their commitment to the Climate Change Agenda. The Blog quotes Storm Lake journalist Art Cullen’s opinion in the Washington Post, “Ignore the chatter. Stuff is getting done. And both parties are helping.“
With the state’s encouragement and the federal government promising utility companies guaranteed federal funds to build projects we now have our regulators telling us that this move has both not saved us money and greatly distressed Iowa residents.
We are not building these projects for Iowa residents. In fact, the brief also goes on to state that “Iowa Code §§ 476.53 and 476.53A, Iowa Code § 478.3(3) was added to the criteria for determining whether a proposed transmission line represents a reasonable relationship to an overall plan for transmitting electricity in the public interest. Iowa Code § 478.3(3) states that for purposes of making this finding, “the term ‘public’ shall not be interpreted to be limited to consumers located in this state.”
That means that our Iowa electric utilities can take our land by eminent domain for power lines and build projects that hurt the peace and value of our communities. They can use our federal funds for these projects and then also are guaranteed an 11% guaranteed rate of return on everything they build in order to get the job done. It is called gold-plating or the Averch-Johnson Effect.
Wind turbines cost about $4 million each, powerlines $1-3 million per mile, battery storage is $1.8 million to store .5/MW for 3 hours of power. Someone has to pay for these and it will not be the utility companies.
This docket’s purpose is to gather together the heads of these utility companies to decide where the excess power lines should go that they want to build since no one wants them on their land. Left-leaning Iowans would throw a fit if the big pork companies were allowed to decide what the laws regarding hog confinements should be and they were given eminent domain to build whatever they want.
I, for one, am sick and tired of having our land threatened, our money taken and our decisions forcefully “guided” by the modern Left’s fears. It is infuriating to be inundated with their fears in a state that voted for President Trump. I used to believe that Iowa wanted industrial wind and solar because the newspapers told us that. I do not trust what most news sources say anymore.
Knowing truth in this day and age requires discernment. Lord knows that I do not know everything but if there is any wind developer, lawmaker or landowner that can debate my points, I welcome their thoughts.
Author: Janna Swanson
Janna Swanson helps her husband Paul farm in NW Iowa with their two young daughters. Since 2013 Janna has volunteered her time and energy for her community. She was a key member of the Preservation of Rural Iowa Alliance that protected landowners from the Rock Island Clean Line. From there she helped start and facilitated the grassroots group, The Coalition for Rural Property Rights to help protect community members from industrial wind installations. She is also a board member of National Wind Watch, a 25-year online collection of information of the industrial wind opposition from around the world. Most importantly Janna is a follower of Christ and seeks to help others to know and understand Him. Yet because she is also seeking deepening her own knowledge and understanding she welcomes critical, constructive debate. No one has the corner on truth, we all see “through a glass, darkly”. (I Corinthians 13:12)
