House Journal: Page 203: Thursday, January 28, 1999

	Finally, as we approach a comprehensive look at education we should not and must 

not neglect the important role of libraries.  Iowa is one of the few states that provides 
no direct assistance to libraries.  Let us join the rest of the nation in improving the 
communication centers of many of our communities.  Let us enrich ourselves by 
enriching Iowa.  We should begin funding the Enrich Iowa initiative now.  
Our goal is to be first in the nation in education.  Let it be said that here in Iowa we 
put our money where our children are.
We have in Iowa a truly amazing array of natural grace.  When Albert Lea first 
explored Iowa in 1835 he wrote:  "The general appearance of the country is one of great 
beauty. . . one grand rolling prairie, along one side of which flows the mightiest river in 
the world. . .  (For) water, fuel and timber; for richness of soil; for beauty of appearance 
. . . it surpasses any  portion of the United States."
Too often today, there is a difficult playing field for Iowa farmers who want to 
protect our land and water.  But it is our farmers who have the greatest immediate 
stake in the environment.  It is their families who are first to drink the water, breathe 
the air, and eat the food raised in the soil.  So David and Corrine Williams and their 
children Steve and Wendy operate a fifth-generation farm near the Montgomery and 
Page County line. They do so with respect and diligence.  By using minimum and no-
till technology, rotational grazing, alternative watering for their cattle, they were 
recently honored with the National Cattlemen's Association Environmental 
Stewardship Award for "protecting the environment while making their business more 
profitable."  Join me in congratulating the Williams family for showing us that we can 
make sound environmental decisions that are also sound economic decisions.
It is our natural resources that hold the key to a stronger, more prosperous Iowa.  
But to be first in the nation in Environmental Quality and especially to have the 
cleanest water in America, we must take difficult first steps. 
When a body of water with the name of Clear Lake had levels of E. coli which 
spiked over safe limits, when its beaches were closed, when its community lost 
thousands of dollars of much-needed tourist revenue, isn't it a signal that we need to be 
better stewards?
But it is not just our lakes that need care. Our Department of Natural Resources 
has not had the resources to conduct even baseline water quality analyses.  As Dave 
Moeller, the DNR's Fisheries Supervisor for the Northeast District, said, "...We can't do 
anything about it until we see dead fish."
Members of the General Assembly, we can and we must do something 
about it!  We must carefully assess the condition of our groundwater and surface water, 
and then we must create a comprehensive groundwater and surface water monitoring 
program. 
The budget I propose provides resources to do just that and more. It provides funds 
to establish an Iowa watershed protection program, attend to our wetlands and enforce 
the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act. 
Our environmental proposals, however, do not start or stop at the water's edge.  We 
are committed to enhancing our soil and to protecting our air.

© 1999 Cornell College and League of Women Voters of Iowa

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