RELEASE: Grassley Campaign Calls on Patty Judge to Address Questions Surrounding Toxic Strip Mine
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 3, 2016
Contact: Robert Haus, 515-288-5055 | [email protected][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]DES MOINES— More than two weeks after a national news report broke detailing land owned by Patty Judge that contains a “plot that was ‘left in an unreclaimed condition’ after it was strip mined in the 1960s,” she has failed to address unanswered questions surrounding the toxic site.
The allegations expose Patty Judge’s blatant hypocrisy in supporting burdensome federal environmental rules for others, such as the EPA’s Waters Of The U.S., which would significantly harm Iowa’s farmers and small business owners, while failing to take responsibility for the status of her own land.
“We are calling on Patty Judge to come clean about these deeply troubling allegations and to account for her blatant hypocrisy in supporting burdensome environmental regulations for Iowa’s farmers and small business owners while failing to take responsibility for her own land,” said Grassley campaign manager Bob Haus. “Americans are sick and tired of hypocritical politicians who support one set of standards for others but conveniently overlook their own failure to abide by those same set of standards. These allegations not only call into question Patty Judge’s self-described ‘great environmental record,’ but also her commitment to fairness, transparency and accountability. Iowans deserve to know the truth about what appears to have been serious environmental neglect of toxic land owned by a candidate for national office who touts their environmental record before casting their ballot.”
Excerpts From The Report:
The farm includes a 41-acre plot that was left badly scarred by strip mining, a mining method that involves removing layers of earth to uncover deposits of coal buried deep below the surface.
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Official assessments of the land by the Iowa Department of Agriculture show that Judge did little to mitigate degradation and increasing toxicity levels over the three decades the abandoned strip mine land was under her ownership.
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Dating as far back as 1986, the agency categorized the abandoned Judge mine site as a high priority for reclamation.
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“The Judge site was strip-mined in the 1960’s and left in an unreclaimed condition,” wrote a state assessor in 2013. “This area consists of barren, toxic spoil piles, dangerous highwall, and polluted water.”
That polluted water was flowing directly into a stream, according to the assessment.
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“This project area drains directly into Middle Avery Creek,” it says. “This water is poor quality when it leaves the site due to the acidic spoil that it flows through. Water quality is poor with a pH of around 2.0 and a high iron content.”
A 2.0 pH level far exceeds the level of acidity that will kill fish and is almost on par with battery acid, according to the United States Geological Survey. Water naturally exists at a pH level of 7.0.
Little to no vegetation can survive on the land, according to the assessment.
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It was not until the land reached that level of degradation that the federal government began a reclamation project on the Judge plot. It spent one year and hundreds of thousands of dollars reshaping and then seeding the 41-acre plot, according to state records.
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Agricultural experts in Iowa say that the Judge family could have taken simple steps to minimize the damage long before the government stepped in.
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Fred Hubbell, a major Democratic donor in Iowa who supported Judge’s primary opponent Rob Hogg, said that Judge’s failure as a water quality advocate was the reason he opposed her.
“One of the key differences between the two of them is on water quality issues and environmental issues,” Hubbell said. “Rob has a much stronger record than she does, particularly on water quality.”
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