Des Moines, IA—Governor Chet Culver signed the first major bill to address global warming in Iowa in a signing ceremony at the State Capitol today, attended by Environment Iowa. The bill creates an advisory council to find policy solutions to global warming, sets up a tracking system for global warming pollution, and includes an assessment of global warming pollution in air quality permits.
“New reports are coming out every week about the environmental, national security, and economic harms that global warming poses,” said Nathaniel Baer, policy advocate with Environment Iowa. “The public is ready for solutions and the Governor is doing his part to begin providing them.”
The bill creates an Iowa Climate Change Advisory Council with voting members that include representatives from Iowa universities, utilities, environmental groups, government, and members of the public. The Council is charged with considering all policies and strategies for reducing global warming pollution in Iowa in the short-, mid-, and long-term, including one scenario for a 50% reduction by year 2050.
The bill also establishes a greenhouse gas inventory within the Department of Natural Resources. The DNR would collect data from producers of greenhouse gases, including the amount and type of gas or gases the producer generates. In addition, the bill requires applicants for air quality permits to quantify their emissions of greenhouse gases.
“We applaud Governor Culver for signing this bill as well as key legislators for ensuring it got to his desk, including Senator Joe Bolkcom, Senator Rob Hogg, and Representative Donovan Olson,” said Baer.
Several of Environment Iowa’s recent reports highlight the problems and solutions to global warming, in both Iowa and the United States. In Feeling the Heat, Environment Iowa found that temperatures across Iowa have been rising since year 2000. In Rising to the Challenge, Environment Iowa shows how use of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies can achieve the necessary short-term reductions in global warming pollution by year 2020.
The signing ceremony occurred at 3:00 pm, Friday April 27 at the Governor’s formal office in the State Capitol. Environment Iowa staff members Nathaniel Baer and Alana Stamas were invited to the ceremony and attended, along with other coalition partners and key legislators.
Please see www.environmentiowa.org for copies of Environment Iowa’s global warming reports.
