Globe Gazette. May 13, 2013.

Iowa's good fortune is blowing in the wind

If you were outdoors over the weekend, you're well aware that Iowa has plenty of something MidAmerican Energy Co. wants to harness: The wind.

Iowa's largest utility company made big headlines last week when it announced it will add 656 wind turbines by the end of 2015. Gov. Terry Branstad called it the largest economic development investment in state history.

We're talking big numbers here.

Greg Abel, chairman of MidAmerican Energy's holding company, said the expansion will enhance economic development and provide $360 million in additional property tax revenues over the next 30 years. Landowner payments totaling $3.2 million per year also are expected.

Mid-American customers will see rate reductions of $10 million a year by 2017 because of the project, said the company (which later announced rate increases it said have no relation to the wind project).

And the project will create about 460 construction jobs over a two-year period and some 48 permanent jobs in Iowa, a healthy, permanent boost in the state's economy.

There was no mention of location but the governor's office said the turbines will be added to existing projects. In North Iowa, according to www.midamericanenergy.com, the company has projects in Floyd and Wright counties. So those areas could see additional development.

MidAmerican began building wind projects in 2004 and has installed 1,267 wind turbines in Iowa, an investment of about $4 billion. It estimates by January 2016, when all new wind generation is in operation, wind energy might account for 39 percent of its retail generation.

Along with the hefty economic boost, the project will help reduce the company's carbon footprint by 10.3 percent, according to Bill Fehrman, president and CEO of MidAmerican Energy.

This is good news indeed. Iowa has been an industry leader in wind generation, and ranks among the nation's leaders along with Texas and California.

This project still must be approved by the Iowa Utilities Board. But because it will be done at no cost to customers, will provide a huge economic stimulus and will be a green project, it would seem like a lock.

Thanks to MidAmerican and those who have seen the importance of renewable energy, good fortune continues blowing in the wind.

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Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier. May 12, 2013.

Postville making progress 5 years after immigration raid

Five years ago, the town of Postville was left in shambles after a raid that led to the arrest of nearly 400 immigrant workers.

The kosher meatpacking plant, known as Agriprocessors, was the economic anchor for the small town. Many plant officials faced a variety of immigration, bank fraud, wire fraud and mail fraud charges, as well as child labor law violations. Some, including vice president Sholom Rubashkin, were sent to prison.

It basically took one day to cripple the economy of the town.

Nationally, the raid prompted many cries of government bullying on one side, and declarations of support for the raid on the other. Those in the substantial middle continued to wonder if our leaders would ever take the necessary steps toward overhauling our immigration policies.

As always, the national discussion eventually cooled to a simmer. Northeast Iowa, however, was left with a small town with a crushed economy.

Morale, of course, followed the economy.

Homes and other buildings were abandoned. A year after the raid, the lines at a food pantry were the longest in town. A third of the population had left. There was no funding forthcoming, unlike situations in which communities suffer through natural disasters, or other unforeseen economic difficulties.

Five years later, Postville and its residents are still in an uphill battle.

Fortunately, there are people willing to fight that tough battle, and someday that collective effort could be one of the town's most important and lasting legacies.

Agri Star Meat & Poultry, based in Brooklyn, N.Y., stepped in to operate the plant. It's a leaner process, and employs less people, but still serves as an economic and employment focus.

Postville remains a melting pot with people from different backgrounds coming to work at the meatpacking plant, including an influx of refugees from Somalia.

That has sparked some new business.

A new kosher food store, Glatt Market, has opened downtown, replacing a store that closed shortly after Agriprocessors' bankruptcy.

There's a new Somalian food store and an African clothing store.

Dollar General opened two years ago.

"It does a fairly large business, and we saw that with the local option sales tax increase that we noticed after they arrived," said Darcy Radloff, city clerk administrator.

The chamber of commerce is actively recruiting members, hoping to spur any business growth.

Future progression is still undefined, but every little victory gets them another foothold in that uphill battle.

"We never looked back after the raid," Postville Mayor Leigh Rekow said. "We just went ahead as a town and kept on going. We never felt sorry for ourselves. We knew we were always going to be here, and we kept going."

Coming back from disaster is a dynamic and time-consuming process; but there is no question that sort of attitude is only going to help.

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The Des Moines Register. May 13, 2013.

Lawmakers shouldn't overreact to court case

One of the bills that may be acted on before members of the Legislature rush for the exits would deal with a recent Iowa Supreme Court decision seen as harmful to owners of Iowa farmland. This is one piece of legislation that could cause more problems than it solves if lawmakers are not careful.

The issue grew from a ruling from the Supreme Court earlier this year that cleared the way for a lawsuit to proceed against a Fayette County dairy farmer. The lawsuit was brought by a woman who was injured in a fall in the farmer's barn while she chaperoned a kindergarten class trip.

Some say the decision could virtually eliminate outdoor recreation in Iowa for fear of lawsuits, which seems a hysterical overreaction. Still, the Legislature has been lobbied hard to prevent the ruling from having unintended consequences. It's not entirely clear that is necessary, given the court's narrow ruling in this case. But if lawmakers are determined to do something, the cure should be confined to the narrow issue in this one case.

At the heart of the issue is a state law passed in 1967 that was intended to nurture outdoor recreation. The legislative intent was to encourage rural landowners to allow access to their property by protecting them from lawsuits by people injured while enjoying those outdoor pursuits. In other words, a farmer didn't have to seal up every abandoned well or trim every low-hanging branch to protect hikers and equestrians.

The law itemized a number of specific activities that would be entitled to this immunity, which was intended to be exclusive. The list included hunting, fishing, hiking, bird-watching, horseback riding and the like. The law has since been amended to include other specific activities, but it has never included language that would cover an adult accompanying a school group on a tour of a dairy farm, the Supreme Court said in its Feb. 15 ruling. Thus, the lawsuit against the farmer should go to a jury.

Two approaches have been proposed as a legislative response: One would broaden those activities with liability protection to include even ones not specifically itemized in state law. That would include farm tours, of course, but it would also open the door to liability immunity for many other activities that should not necessarily be shielded from lawsuits. That's especially true since the Legislature recently expanded the scope of the law to include virtually all private land in the state, including property within cities.

It's not obvious the Supreme Court's ruling deserves a legislative response. It is limited to a very narrow set of facts in a single case, and all the court said is that the case should go to a jury to decide. But if lawmakers are determined to respond, they should go no further than the issues presented in this case.

The original goal of Iowa's law protecting agricultural landowners from liability was to assure the public had opportunities for outdoor recreation. The original law, and subsequent amendments, included an exclusive list of those activities. At most, the law should be expanded to include "farm tours."

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Quad-City Times. May 13, 2013.

Close the online sales tax loophole

The great internet sales tax subsidy to international corporate business is as close as ever to extinction, thanks to savvy U.S. senators who saw through the giant loophole created by the Supreme Court 20 years ago.

In 1992, the court ruled that state sales taxes must be paid only by businesses with a physical, bricks-and-mortar presence in the state. That made loads of sense in 1992, but none whatsoever by 2002. It's almost comical in 2013.

This loophole allowed billions of dollars in tax-free sales by huge, multi-national corporations. The corporations pay millions to establish a marketing, advertising and web presence in every state. But without a storefront, they've avoided the sales taxes everyone else pays.

Since virtually everything is sold online, this loophole effectively is gouging local businesses forced to pay the sales taxes their online competitors avoid.

Buy a book at the mall and Iowa collects sales tax. Buy the same book online and Iowa collects nothing. The same is true for clothes, cars, appliances, electronics, groceries and everything else marketed and sold online.

Ebay may not have an Iowa or Illinois storefront. But it pays for marketing that shows up on almost every Iowa and Illinois computer. Thousands of its customers advertise and ship products from Iowa and Illinois addresses and avoid the sales tax their competitors pay.

Worst of all, businesses with stores in Iowa and Illinois still can be held accountable for sales tax on their online sales.

Those tax-free purchases require plenty of government support. They're shipped over public roads. Contract disputes are managed through public courts. The web business owners enjoy all of the public support of their storefront competitors. But they pay nothing.

The Senate bill now goes to the House where it mistakenly is being condemned as a tax increase.

Some House Republicans have vowed never to support any tax increase. Iowa Republican Reps. Steve King and Tom Latham joined Illinois Reps. Peter Roskam, Randy Hultgren, John Shimkus, Adam Kinzinger and Aaron Schock to pledge allegiance to Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform.

We suggest they instead pledge allegiance to the honorable, hard-working and taxpaying Iowa and Illinois business owners who watch their international online competitors skate freely through this tax-free loophole. Instead of pledging allegiance to Norquist, they should pledge allegiance to their states. Iowa loses out on $88.7 million and Illinois, $507 million in uncollected online sales taxes each year, according to a University of Tennessee study.

The Supreme Court got it right in 1992 when retail sales required a physical presence in a state. That ruling seems ludicrous in 2013, when that sales presence shows up hourly on your phone, Facebook, Gmail and every other web connection. Eliminate the international online sales tax subsidy by passing a bill to tax online sales no different than storefront sales.