Serving O'Brien & Clay Counties
Serving O'Brien & Clay Counties
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Two weeks ago, Congressman Randy Feenstra, R-Hull, touted polling that showed him with a commanding 54 percentage point lead against his relatively unknown challenger in this week's primary, Kevin Virgil. "Our 54 percent lead is proof that Iowans want a Congressman who delivers," Feenstra said in a May 23 press release. There was reason to have confidence in that figure: Virgil joined the race about five months ago in January, lacked name recognition and ran a low-dollar campaign. Feenstra is a... 
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A rural northwest Iowa water utility will be required to shut down its wells near the Ocheyedan River when its flow is very low, according to a permit recently issued by state regulators. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources has determined that several wells operated by the Osceola County Rural Water System have contributed to the river running dry near May City. That has happened five times in eight years. The DNR put more-restrictive conditions on the operation of the wells last year that... Website
Summit Carbon Solutions has reached an agreement to nearly double the number of ethanol facilities that will connect to its proposed carbon dioxide pipeline system in Iowa, the company announced Monday. The agreement with POET – which says it is the world's largest biofuel producer – would add 17 ethanol plants to the proposed system in Iowa and South Dakota, including Ashton in Osceola County. A dozen of those are in Iowa, which gives Summit a total of 25 in the state. Those sites would ext... Website
One of three carbon dioxide pipeline companies that have sought to build in Iowa announced on Friday that it's canceling its proposal amid the "unpredictable nature of the regulatory and government processes" of Iowa and South Dakota. Navigator CO2 had proposed to build a more than 1,300-mile pipeline system to transport captured carbon dioxide from ethanol plants and other facilities in five states to Illinois for underground sequestration or other commercial purposes. The bulk of that system...
A segment of the Ocheyedan River in northwest Iowa has run dry again near the point where a rural water utility draws drinking water from the ground, according to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. The department recently placed new requirements on the water-use permit for the Osceola County Rural Water System to prevent the river from drying up, which has now happened five times in the past eight years. Ed Jones, an Osceola County supervisor who lives near the dry segment of the river,...
Navigator CO2 wants to suspend its pipeline permit process in Iowa until utility regulators in Illinois approve the project, according to a motion it filed in Iowa. The company wants to build a carbon dioxide pipeline system that would transport the captured greenhouse gas from ethanol plants and other facilities to Illinois, where it will be sequestered underground or used for other commercial purposes. About 810 miles of the initially proposed system lies in Iowa, but the company said it is...
Overall dryness in Iowa expanded last week amid unrelenting heat and a lack of rainfall and is now worse than it's been since March 2013, according to a Thursday report by the U.S. Drought Monitor. Drought conditions eclipsed their previous worst of this year, which occurred in late June and early July. Last week averaged about 10 degrees above normal in Iowa, and rainfall was about one-fifth of what is normally expected. Another dry, hot streak is expected to go for days starting Saturday,...
A rural water system in northwest Iowa would be required to idle its wells near the Ocheyedan River when its flow is too low, according to a Department of Natural Resources plan to keep the river from running dry. The Osceola County Rural Water System had sought the opposite and suggested removing its requirement to photograph the status of the river in low-flow conditions. The utility alleges that its role in the river's status is relatively inconsequential. But the state seeks to impose more...
State law that allows hazardous liquid pipeline companies access to private land for surveys is unconstitutional because it doesn't provide compensation for intangible damages suffered by landowners, a district court judge has ruled. "The damages resulting from a landowner's loss of his right to exclusive use of his property are subjective in the same way that pain and suffering damages are as it relates to a victim of a tortious injury," wrote Judge John Sandy, in his Wednesday ruling. Because...
A rural water utility in northwest Iowa wants to relax its state-mandated reporting requirements despite regulators' finding that it contributed to a river running dry last year. "We're done being bullied," said Doug Westerman, general manager of the Osceola Rural Water System. "We're done being pushed around." A two-mile segment of the Ocheyedan River had no water near May City starting in September. Melting snow has since recharged it. The fall dryout killed a large number of fish and other...
A significant stretch of a northwest Iowa river has run dry several times in the past seven years as a rural water utility has pumped more water from the ground – at least a quarter of which is sold out-of-state – with the approval of state regulators. A two-mile segment of the Ocheyedan River dried up this year in September amid drought conditions and increased pumping by Osceola County and the Osceola County Rural Water System, according to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. That led... Website
