The Greening of Greensburg

From the tragedy that crises can bring, good things can happen. At 9:45 pm on May 4th, 2007 an EF5 tornado leveled the rural town of Greensburg, Kansas. The 1,400 folks in Greensburg decided that the tornado gave them the chance to reinvent their home town. Perhaps Greensburg's web site summarizes their vision best. It reads, "Greensburg: Better, Stronger, Greener!"

Led by Executive Director Daniel Wallach, residents started Greensburg GreenTown just days after the storm. The community came together and decided to rebuild sustainably, striving to become a model green town for the future. A grassroot organization, Greensburg GreenTown has worked side-by-side with city and county officials, business owners and local residents to incorporate sustainable principles into their rebuilding process.

They serve as an educational resource for the community, a conduit through which donations can be distributed, and a representative to those outside the community who are interested in the Green Initiative.

"This town is definitely an example for the rest of the world. We have people from around the world coming out of their way to come to Greensburg," Wallach has said. "So it's a great place for people to come and have an emerging experience with what a town of the future looks like and feels like."

According to CNN, "city leaders are using solar and wind technologies to harness power and geothermal heat. They're also conserving energy by building with solid concrete, using more natural light, and installing better insulation and state-of-the-art windows."

The first green home is being built, a silo-shaped building that will feature ground-source heating and cooling, solar hot water and even a vegetable garden on its roof. A study from the Department of Energy shows that versus conventional “stick” building are on average 15% less to build. But the more importantly, green homes can cost up to 70% less to operate. Over the life of a 30 year mortgage the savings, even at today’s energy rates (which are probably not going to last) an average sized home could save $30,000-$50,000. More here.

Greensburg GreenTown is building 12 more green houses with energy-efficient features. Wallach wants these to be "living laboratories" for educating people about energy-efficient construction.

"We want it to be fun and interesting for folks to come see and experience, and again both demystify and de-politicize going green," he said. "And once you experience it, you understand it in a way that simplifies it and in a lot of cases inspires people to want to do it themselves."

As Iowa considers how to come back from the floods of 2008, we might tear a page out of the Greensburg playbook and see how green can save us green in the long run. Who knows we might want to invite Daniel Wallach up for a visit?

A Corn Carb Pipe Runs Through it

Two companies are exploring a possible ethanol pipeline through Iowa to the east coast. Two companies are exploring the possibility of building a pipeline to carry ethanol from northwest Iowa to the East Coast. Of course with recent legislation in the Iowa House to remove the labeling of ethanol from gas pumps, the pipeline would likely have to be wrapped in brown paper.

Magellan Midstream Partners of Oklahoma and Pennsylvania-based Buckeye Partners have announced a joint assessment of the project, which would cost more than $43 billion.

Ethanol is not shipped via gasoline pipelines because of concerns the alcohol would corrode the pipes and absorb water.

The plan faces several hurdles, including a government loan guarantee to make it financially feasible.

The proposal tentatively calls for three sites in Iowa, near Mason City, Fort Dodge and in O'Brien County, with other sites in Indiana and Ohio.

The pipeline could carry more than 10 million gallons of ethanol a day.

Incubation NOT Subsidization

Iowa is in a prime position to attract investment both in terms of alternative energy and food production. Why don't the state and Congressional representatives do more to systematically encourage incubation through venture capital. The net result is threefold

1) We keep young, entrepreneurial Iowans in Iowa
2) We tap and build on resources that we already are industry leaders in.
3) We build a sustainable model for growth.

How this would work: Similar to the idea of cultural districts, each county of the state would develop specific economic enterprise districts in concert with area business community, workforce development, and secondary and postsecondary education providers. These county districts would be responsible for identifying and creating strategic economic development incubation plans for their counties. They would be coordinated by a state-level assistant to the Governor to layout the various opportunities, and the coordinator would work with the legislature to find seed monies for these districts and work with area economic development officials to seek venture capitalists to invest.

In return, the state and localities would receive newly generated tax revenues, no TIFs would be required locally, and Iowa would retain young people who are being trained at local universities and colleges to do the work that the county economic enterprise districts map out.

Illinois Gun Makers Aiming at Iowa?

The Quad City Times reports that gun manufacturers are very nervous because of Illinois gun legislation and are looking across the river to Iowa and other places for greener, gun-friendly pastures.

Illinois legislators are considering a law (Senate Bill 1007) which would prohibit the purchase, sale, manufacture or possession of detachable ammunition-feeding devices that can store more than 10 rounds (it passed last week 31 to 26 in the Illinois Senate). Law enforcement officials, prison wardens and guards, and military personnel would be exempt from the ban. The law would affect manufacturers that produce large-capacity gun magazine clips, including five Illinois companies: Springfield Armory, Geneseo, Ill.; ArmaLite, Geneseo; Rock River Arms, Colona, Ill.; Les Baer Custom, Hillsdale, Ill.; and Lewis Machine and Tool, Milan, Ill.

Supporters of the plan, including former gun control activist Dan Kotowski, a Democratic state senator from Park Ridge, say banning ammunition magazines holding more than 10 rounds would help save lives, including those of students at Virginia Tech University.

The Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence called the Senate’s action a ’’significant step’’ in efforts to reduce the ’’lethality’’ of guns sold in Illinois."Firearms that accept high capacity magazines have been used in several of our nation’s deadliest shootings, including the Columbine shootings and the recent tragedy at Virginia Tech. There is no question that high capacity magazines were a major reason why so many innocent people were killed and wounded in these incidents,’’ noted Thomas Mannard, the council’s executive director.

For others, they see the bill as being about jobs. For Illinois, it means 450 jobs and $20 million in revenue will be lost if the companies move. ’’What concerns me about it is it’s just so anti-jobs,’’ said Mike Jacobs, a Illinois legislator. ’’My area has been building guns since the 1890s. All of a sudden the manufacturers are saying, ’We’re leaving, we’ve had enough of Illinois.’’’

Les Baer, owner of Les Baer Custom, is relocating his production facility across the Mississippi River to LeClaire, Iowa. ’’We’re moving. I’m out of here,’’ Baer said Friday. And others may follow.

IVF Fails the Smell Test

Iowa Politics points to a Des Moines Register article which reports the obvious about the Iowa Values Fund--it isn't working as advertised.

Iowa economic development leaders need to better report how its leading economic development fund is performing, State Auditor David Vaudt said in a report released today. The report also suggested the state economic development better monitor and track companies’ efforts to create pledged jobs and that lawmakers revisit the salary requirements that companies must meet before getting incentives.

The audit shows that the Iowa Department of Economic Development reported that companies had pledged to create 30,732 jobs through Grow Iowa Values Fund for fiscal years 2003 to 2006. Companies had contracts to create 13,115 jobs and had created 10,961 of them.

But the state was still negotiating contracts with companies that would create 17,617 jobs. The contracts outline details like jobs created, company investment, maintenance of new jobs, among other issues.

The audit notes that nearly 5,000 of the jobs pledged do not meet wage requirements for incentives but are part of the project. And companies had declined incentives for projects with nearly 900 jobs.