In which Joni Ernst makes me so mad I could spit

I got an email from Joni Ernst today. Normally I look at them, roll my eyes, and discard. But this one touched on a topic near and dear to my heart: the waters of the United States.

Here, in part, is the message. 

Home | Newsroom | Helping Iowans | Contact Don’t Mess with the New WOTUS Rule When the Obama-Biden administration attempted to regulate nearly 97% of the land in Iowa with their Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule, I fought back and stood up for the livelihoods of hardworking Americans. We won that fight, and a new, more flexible WOTUS rule was put in place.  Now, the Biden Administration is working at a rapid pace to undo this work. Everyone should agree that clean water should be a national priority. But I can’t stand by and allow for another Washington power grab that will make it harder for Iowans to farm, ranch, and build.  As the daughter of a farmer, and an unwavering advocate for Iowa’s agriculture community, I will never stop fighting to defend the livelihoods of those who are feeding and fueling our world.

Ooooh this just made me so mad! So I wrote a letter. I copied it into this blog so that I could share it with everyone. Feel free to respond to Ernst's email or call or email her yourself if you feel similarly infuriated.

Dear Senator Ernst:

I'm glad you are supporting farmers in Iowa. Someone needs to. The nature of farming has changed so much over the past 50 years that someone needs to remember what farmers truly need. 

But FARMERS have also changed a lot in the last 50 years. First of all, there are way fewer farmers than there used to be 50 years ago. Iowans are mostly not farmers. There are lots of acres in production, but they are worked by fewer and fewer people.  

More and more, "farmers" run giant industrial agricultural sites, producing hundreds of acres of the same crop, or raising thousands of animals for slaughter in tightly-confined spaces. They do this right up to the edges of fields and along waterways, draining wetlands, covering soil with fertilizer, and emptying waste into the WOTUS. And those Waters of the United States are the same waters that nurture our flora and fauna--and provide us all with water to drink and use.

It's important that farmers are able to produce food for our nation. But it's also important to make sure that as they do so, they don't irreparably harm the land they farm. That's what the Clean Water regulations aim to protect. 

I am not a native Iowan, like you are. I grew up in Cleveland Ohio. Yes, the city where the river caught on fire back in the late 60s and early 70s when I was a girl. The Cuyahoga River was so filled with pollutants from the manufacturing industry (Northeastern Ohio's "farming") that it caught on fire, and not just once. It was stories about those fires that sparked discussion and passage of important clean water regulations. 

Yes, those regulations came from Washington. But they were not a "power grab." (And by the way, "Washington" is us! "Washington" is you, and the people who elected you!) They are a response to poisoned, dirty, and sometimes flaming waters, the side-effects of industry, including the farming industry. Those regulations provide farmers and manufacturers with guidelines about how to expand, to create, to grow--without damaging this planet that we all need to live on.

I am very disappointed in you for upholding Trump's attempt to pull back these important regulations. It would be much more useful if you would use your ability to speak to the people of Iowa to explain the ways we can get our waters off of the impaired waters lists--by following the regulations of the WOTUS bills.

Respectfully,

your constituent,

Jane Nesmith