It’s become harder to enforce environmental regulations and combat climate change at the federal level since President Donald Trump took office. On Inauguration Day he pulled the U.S. out of the Paris climate accord. Since then, his administration has allowed new coal projects on federal land and blocked the development of wind energy. He signed an executive order making it easier for companies to mine the ocean floor. Trump's Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lee Zeldin said the agency will cut staff to Reagan-era levels. In the agency's reorganization, divisions overseeing climate change and energy efficiency will be eliminated. The EPA has also invited power-plants to apply for exemptions to limits on mercury and arsenic pollution and is pushing back the deadline for limiting forever chemicals in drinking water. The administration cancelled a lease NASA held at Colombia University to conduct climate monitoring. And Trump's budget calls for cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Department of Energy and further cuts to NASA, which scientists say will hinder climate change research and severe weather predictions.
Still, the work of combating climate change and creating greener communities continues at the local level — even in states that went for Trump, like Iowa. City officials from Ames and Iowa City recently joined host Charity Nebbe on Talk of Iowa to share how these Midwestern college towns are adapting their infrastructure, energy sources and waste management to reach net-zero emissions in the next 25 years.
Emissions
The city of Ames has a goal to reduce emissions by 70% by 2030 compared to 2018 levels and to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.
One major change they are making to improve air quality is moving away from garbage incineration. The waste energy plant was installed in 1975 and Nolan Sagan, sustainability coordinator with the city of Ames, said while it was innovative at the time, they have reassessed the environmental and economic impacts of the plant and decided to wind down incineration.
“We'll be constructing a transfer station to collect all of that waste, and then really trying to get out there and promote recycling, build out our infrastructure, our capabilities to handle the recycling in the community and start diverting more and more waste from the landfill,” Sagan said.
He added Ames has the unique opportunity to look at best practices in other communities across the state and region to build out this waste program.
Iowa City has already achieved its first goal of reducing greenhouse gases by 45% from 2010 to 2030. Like in Ames and many other parts of the country, the long-term goal is to reach net zero emissions by 2050.
“Emissions can be kind of abstract. You can't put your arms around them. What do they look like?” said Sarah Gardner, the climate action coordinator in Iowa City. “So instead, when I talk about the plan, I often like to focus on the more than 60 different actions that are in it, which include things like increasing transit ridership, getting more people out on bikes, having a more bikeable, walkable community and also really accelerating the embrace of clean energy.”
Renewable energy and efficiency
Gardner said that in Iowa City there are several programs to work with private residents, businesses and organizations to reduce energy consumption.
“The cleanest energy you can use is energy you never have to produce to begin with, and we do that in a variety of ways,” Gardner said.
Energy efficiency is always one of my favorite strategies. You can save money on your utility bill, reduce emissions all at the same time, sort of a win-win for everyone involved.Nolan Sagan
Creating tighter seals on buildings to prevent the loss of heating and cooling is one way to conserve energy. Income-qualified residents can have the cost of insulating and air sealing an attic covered up to $5,000 through the Insulate Iowa City grant program, while revenue from property taxes helps businesses install energy efficient measures such as better windows and doors and heating and cooling systems.
Iowa City also recently completed a solar array project at the Iowa City Municipal Airport that the city says will cut energy costs at the airport by 50%.
In Ames, a solar farm allows residents to purchase a share of the farm.
“That's a fantastic project, providing options for folks in the community whose home may not be right for solar,” Sagan said. “Maybe you live in an apartment and you're unable to install solar, so you can purchase a share of the community solar farm, and it's basically the next best thing.”
He said residents get monthly credits on their utility bill, and the energy in their home still comes from a renewable source.
The farm is also home to a native pollinator habitat beneath the panels.
“We also partner with Iowa State University here to raise bees out there that produce honey,” Sagan said. “And they do research on the bees to understand what types of plants are they ... getting their pollen from to produce honey, and how can we manage that land underneath the solar panels to be as productive as possible.”
Ames also provides incentives for energy-saving appliances.
“Energy efficiency is always one of my favorite strategies. You can save money on your utility bill, reduce emissions all at the same time — sort of a win-win for everyone involved,” Sagan said. “We've got rebates from the city for everything from HVAC to electric lawn mowers now and efficient appliances. So anything that we can do to help people electrify, reduce their utility bills and reduce their emissions at the same time.”
Transportation
Iowa City has seen a bump in public transportation ridership after it made city buses free to ride.
“Our climate action plan calls for us to increase transit ridership by 55%, and so one of the things we wanted to do was make it just easier for people to get on the bus,” Gardner said.
Iowa City also has introduced several electric buses to the fleet and will be bringing in six more electric vehicles in the near future. The city is also planning to break ground on a new facility for the vehicles in a year or so, which is designed to be carbon neutral.
“Those busses run all day whether or not they have people on them or not, but the more people we have on, that's the fewer cars that are on the road — and also those emissions that are shared among more people,” Gardner said. “Particularly when you're on an electric bus, where there are no tailpipe emissions, it's one of the cleanest ways you can get to home and work.”
Ames is also working to decarbonize the CyRide bus system with a mix of biodiesel fuel and electric buses.
Both towns have Tesla superchargers for personal electric vehicles as well.
Political impacts on local action
Though the work continues, community sustainability offices feel the effects of the federal shift away from climate action and other, non-administration challenges with budgets and staffing. For example, Iowa City won’t be receiving AmeriCorps volunteers over the summer for weatherization programs. And the city of Des Moines dismantled their sustainability office in January, citing a budget deficit.
"One of the things we talk about a lot is that climate change is not a respecter of jurisdictional boundaries, that at the end of the day, we're all in it together,” Gardner said. “And if Iowa City is the only city moving forward on these goals, we're still going to feel those impacts of climate change. So, it's really important to be continuing to engage cities, including Des Moines, and seeing where we have the common ground, where we can move forward, and how can we do it in a way that benefits everyone.”
To hear this conversation, listen to Talk of Iowa, hosted by Charity Nebbe. Dani Gehr produced this episode.
