Century of the Common Iowan Turns 3 Years Old

I glanced at the clock and saw there was just 5 minutes till midnight. I had forgotten that Monday marked the 3rd birthday for Century of the Common Iowan and I only had 5 minutes to put up a post to sum up those 3 years. Yeah right.

Well here's what I got written in an hour...

As I look back, it is interesting how the focus of the blog has evolved over those years. In the blogs first year I wrote a lot about issues such as the rising cost of college tuition and Iowa's Brain Drain, immigration, and the need for a trade policy that protects American jobs. Year two was all about the Iowa caucuses. The following year I was able to sit back and watch the primaries play out and lead up to the general election. With the 2008 elections behind us, I have been able to write more about policies and topics such as the emergence of Millennials, social media, education, and the need to invest in a creative economy.

3 years, 2,226 posts, and over 132,000 visitors later and here we are in the best of times, in the worst of times. Our current economic and political situation find us in a situation where remarkable change can take place (and if it doesn't, it's because we didn't make them do it) . It is time for big ideas. In the coming year I hope to focus on the big ideas that desmoinesdem laid out that I wrote about last month.

• Clean elections
• Promoting clean energy solutions
• Local control of hog confinements
• Passenger rail
  
• Rural broadband.

These are not new issues. Many I have written about since I started this blog, but now is the time to stop talking about these issues and start seeing real action. On the campaign trail, Barack Obama told the story that one voice can change a room, one room can change a city, one city can change a nation. It is my hope that over the past 3 years, I have been able to change 1 person's viewpoint on these key issues and encouraged 1 person to take action on these key issues.

I'd like to end by repeating what Rekha Basu wrote about activism that I posted about earlier today..

Still, it takes courage to be an activist. It requires putting yourself out there in public, daring to take the unpopular position and getting hostile feedback... But those who understand history know well the role activism has played in winning rights and making a more just, humane and accessible America.

Join in. Post comments. Attend your local Democratic central committee meeting. Call your State Legislators. Get active in a community group or city board. Start your own blog. Heck, run for local office.

It's time to make a ruckus. Let's go!

Clean Coal Clean

The Reality Campaign has a new ad out directed by the Coen Brothers...

Iowa Utilities Board Decision Threatens Marshalltown Coal Plant

A decision yesterday by the Iowa Utilities Board threatens the future of the coal-fired power plant in Marshalltown. Alliant Energy was asking for a 12.5% return on investment, but the Iowa Utilities Board agreed to a 10% return.

From the Marshalltown Times Republican...

"Whether it could be a deal breaker, I don't know," said Ken Anderson, president of the Marshalltown Area Chamber of Commerce.

Tom Aller, president of Interstate Power and Light, a division of Alliant Energy, released a statement saying the issue will have to be carefully considered.

"The conditions placed by the IUB on the proposed hybrid power plant present a number of challenges in today's financial climate, and we are disappointed that this decision seemingly does not take that reality into account," he said. "We will continue to work with our partners to determine how today's decision will impact our respective companies' long-term generation plans."

Anderson said the situation was far from a done deal and there was still time for Alliant Energy to decide not to build the plant in Marshalltown.

"There's always the possibility this thing will stop," he said.

This decision puts Iowa one step closer to moving away from coal-fired power plants and investing in solar, wind, and geothermal power.

Big Ideas

Democrats have accomplished a great deal the past 3 years including increasing Iowa's renewable energy industries, raising teacher salaries, providing same day voter registration, expanding early childhood education, and enacting a smoking ban.

In a post yesterday at Bleeding Heartland, desmoinesdem laid an agenda of big ideas Democrats at the Statehouse can pursue over the next 2 years.

If Democrats can show that their governance made a tangible difference in the lives of Iowans, it will be easier to give voters a reason to back Culver and Democratic legislators again in 2010. I've got a few suggestions:

-Reduce the influence of money in politics by approving a voluntary "clean elections" system on the model of Maine or Arizona;
-Reject new coal fired power plants (as several of our neighboring states have done) and increase our capacity to generate wind and solar power;
-Allow "local control" of large hog confinements (agricultural zoning at the county level);
-Make progress toward providing light rail in the Ames/Ankeny/Des Moines and Iowa City/Cedar Rapids corridors.

I couldn't agree more with these issues and have written a lot about about each one in the past (read my posts on clean elections, coal plants, local control, light rail). If could add one more it would be high speed rural broadband access. I wrote last summer...

Broadband penetration is a huge asset for economic development, especially in rural areas like Iowa.

When governments are trying to attract companies to locate in the area they should invest in infrastructure such as high speed broadband. It would benefit those companies and spark entrepreneurship among individuals living in the rural areas.

Unfortunately, I also agree with desmoinesdem that Democratic Leadership doesn't seem interested in pushing any of these issues at the moment. There are legislators here and there speaking on these issues, but progress likely won't be made without support from leadership.

Iowa Looks at Coal Ash Regulations

Last month a flood of toxic sludge in Tennessee covered hundred of acres of land after a dam broke at a coal plant.

Iowa is now looking to regulate the disposal of coal ash.

Iowa environmental regulators say they will push for landfill-style regulations for coal ash disposal sites in the state.

Members of the Iowa Environmental Protection Commission vowed Tuesday to push for the more stringent and costly rules. They also criticized Iowa Department of Natural Resources officials, who last month said they favored the testing of groundwater to see if the toxic ash was polluting waterways before requiring liners and monitoring at new disposal sites.

The commission's decision follows recent coal ash spills in Tennessee and Alabama, and stems from efforts to rewrite the state's landfill rules.

Coal ash comes from coal-burning and contains heavy metals and pollutants linked to neurological problems and other illnesses.

There are more than a dozen coal ash disposal sites in Iowa.