MidAmerican wind property tax update

The MEC wind  property tax information in the several preceding  posts has been made available to several state agencies. The Iowa department of revenue, Iowa department of management, State treasurers office, and the state auditors office. It has also been sent to numerous elected officials. To date, public officials have not acted on this information that I'm aware of, except the auditors office,  who replied that they would have several staff members examine the information. The department of revenue plainly noted several times during my phone call with them that they would not be devoting staff time to this and disagreed heavily with the information sent to them, though they didn't list any information that explained the discrepancies between the utility county property tax valuations and the utility's IUB and federal agency filings. I've had more than one county assessor and supervisor mention verbally that this issue is controlled at the state level, and out of their hands, though the department of revenue seems to clearly state otherwise.

It might just be coincidence, but I couldn't help remembering the following instance, where the former governor replaced replaced replaced an Iowa utilities board member, shortly after a IUB board ruling that MidAmerican clearly disliked. It received minimal coverage in the media, even though the ousted board member bluntly suggested essentially that state regulators and elected officials need need more insulation from the utility lobby in Iowa. Please check out the following articles, the first from Utility Dive. The article quoted the following from ousted board member Sheila Tipton -
"Administrative agencies, including the Iowa Utilities Board, are intended to be independent and not subject to political pressures or threats of retaliation,"

                 
KCCI in Des Moines also noted this issue, and included the following quote from the ousted board member- Tipton said Branstad's shakeup threatens the board's independence and sends a message to "get in line" and favor utilities. Yeah, pretty blunt alright.

Bleedingheartland had the most in depth  coverage of this that I was able to find online, including the full letter Sheila Tipton sent to the governors office.

I've advocated for locally owned renewables for a long time. As a result, I've spent a fair amount of time at the state legislature. anyone who visits the legislature can see firsthand, the amount of influence that MidAmerican and the rest of the utility lobby yield there. Frankly, I concur that regulators, elected officials, and other folks  shouldn't have to be concerned about utility pressure. Also, a  MidAmerican wind turbine is sited of a small parcel of farmland that I own.  So, I've had several interactions with the utility during the past 15 plus years, besides my current research into the property tax issue. During that time,  the following letter from my local insurance provider arrived.

 I scanned it onto the computer. It's hard to tell from the picture, but the letter had indeed been opened, and taped shut again. In this instance, the utility had access to detailed information about me, including the location of my farming operation. The post office was unable to explain why this letters route traveled through MidAmerican, Like I said, things like this are probably just a coincidence...