A divided Iowa Supreme Court has stopped a lawsuit from going to trial that challenges the state’s management of fertilizer and hog farm pollution in rivers and streams, the Associated Press (AP) reports.
On Friday, a 4-3 vote dismissed a lawsuit by Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement and Food & Water Watch attempting to halt the state’s voluntary approach to regulatory compliance that encourages farmers to adopt conservation practices to reduce nitrogen and phosphorus pollution running off from fields into waterways.
Environmentalists expressed disappointment with the court’s decision to dismiss their legal challenge to the state’s water-quality policies but vowed, “The fight for clean water in Iowa is far from over,” The Gazette reports.
The plaintiffs were hoping to prove that Iowa should scrap its voluntary farm pollution policy and order new mandatory limits on nitrogen and phosphorous pollution.
Iowa Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig said the justices “got it right,” and Iowa Farm Bureau Federation President Craig Hill applauded the court for determining Iowa’s water quality regulations should be left to elected legislative and executive branches of government to decide, The Gazette reports.
Although the groups claimed state policies have failed to improve the state’s water quality and reduce the flow of fertilizer and hog farm waste into the state’s river and streams, the majority of justices said decisions on limiting pollution from farms was a political matter — and not one for the courts, The Gazette wrote.
The groups sued the state of Iowa in March 2019, alleging Iowa’s nutrient reduction strategy failed to adequately address agricultural pollution and protect the public’s use of the Raccoon River in Central Iowa.
A Polk County district judge had previously denied a state request to dismiss the case, but a majority of Iowa Supreme Court justices reversed that decision on Friday, ending the challenge before arguments on the claims could be heard in a courtroom.
Justice Edward Mansfield wrote that the environmental groups’ “expansive view” of the public trust doctrine did not give them standing to seek judicial redress on an issue best resolved by the legislative and executive branches, The Gazette reports.
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