Iowa DNR cuts mean less oversight

DES MOINES — State inspectors are required once a year to check earthen basins that hold livestock waste, but with staff reductions caused by state budget cuts, inspections now occur only every three years.
It’s an indication of how the Iowa Department of Natural Resources has had to respond in the face of steadily declining staff and revenue over several years, said Wayne Gieselman, who heads compliance efforts at the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
Gieselman said he doesn’t expect to see increases in inspections of the roughly 800 large basins, where livestock operations can hold millions of gallons of liquid manure before it’s applied to farmland.
With the department having lost 58 full-time positions and 160 seasonal workers over the past three years, Gieselman said the situation could get worse. Since he began working at the Department of Natural Resources six years ago, he said the number of inspectors who visit large animal confinement operations has dropped from 23 to 12.The reason, in part, is that the department wouldn’t win any popularity contests, he said.“We’re a regulatory agency, and sometimes we have to say no,” Gieselman said. “We say it on the basis of science, but people aren’t always happy.”