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With the deadline quickly approaching, officials at the state's Department of Natural Resources are pleased with the number of county leaders that have agreed to use the "master matrix." A total of 71 county Boards of Supervisors have said they'll use the formula for scoring proposed livestock-confinement locations according to their effect on air, water, and the surrounding community. But Iowa environmentalists say its time for the 5-year-old evaluation plan to get its own reconstruction. "I think it's kind of a dull tool," said Susan Heathcote, the water-program director for the Iowa Environmental Council. "I'd like to see us sharpen it to make it more useful." The master matrix was developed in 2002 at the behest of the state Legislature to better evaluate proposed locations for animal-confinement feeding operations. The list of 44 questions allows producers to earn points for choosing sites and using practices that reduce adverse effects on the environment and community. Producers must score 50 percent of the points to pass - a standard that needs refurbishing, said Andrew Hug, an environmental advocate for Environment Iowa. "The master matrix inherently is a good idea," he said. "However, the matrix itself needs to be strengthened and criteria by which animal operation receives passing score needs to be strengthened." The Johnson County Board of Supervisors adopted a resolution in December to use the master matrix this year to evaluate every construction applications, which will then be submitted with a recommendation to Natural Resources. Legislation drafted in the Iowa House last year had included a provision to revamp master matrix standards, but the bill additionally pushed for a myriad of environmental improvements, such as increased minimum setback distances from confinement operations to other commercial and residential buildings. Heathcote said she expected a striped down version of the bill, with the matrix updates intact, to be reintroduced this legislative season. Gene Tinker, the coordinator of Natural Resources animal-feeding operations, said he thinks that the master matrix is doing what it was intended to do. It raises the minimum standards for producers seeking construction permits in counties that use the matrix, and it also allows local residents to give input to their county Board of Supervisors scoring the proposed confinement site. Generally, confinements that need a construction permit include those that plan to use earthen or unformed manure storage and those that will have a capacity of 1,000 animals. "Some say the master matrix is not doing anything, and others say it's too strict," Tinker said. "There was a lot of compromising when it was created, and anytime you have to compromise and not get what you want, you're probably going to state that it is not adequate." In 2002, Natural Resources hired a federal mediator to oversee the master matrix's development. "When we formulated the master matrix and the scoring standards, we have very little information on which to base our criteria," said Heathcote, who represented the Iowa Environmental Council in the discussions. "Now that we've used it for several years, it would be a good idea to go back and take another look at it," she said, noting possible issues with tourism-site proximity and air pollution. E-mail DI reporter Kelsey Beltramea at: kelsey-beltramea@uiowa.edu
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