2001
Wall Lake, Iowa
Iowa DNR’s spill database records a 100-gallon release reported August 21, 2001.
An Iowa money trail
Who is behind
Rob Sand?
Millions in Campaign Funding. Decades of Public Money.
Start with $13 million01The contribution
Iowa’s Largest Combined Political Donation
$0
The owners of one chemical holding company gave Rob Sand’s campaign a historic $13 million in total political contributions.
Sand’s campaign has also given approximately $1.66 million to Democratic Party organizations.
Verify both figures: Iowa Ethics campaign records02Pollution in Iowa
ROB SAND’S BIGGEST DONOR PRODUCES THE FERTILIZER POLLUTING IOWA RIVERS.
Ammonia. E. coli. Discharged into an Iowa creek. Wastewater violations near Harlan’s drinking-water wells.
State records document illegal discharges and repeated wastewater violations at facilities owned by Rob Sand’s biggest donor.
Four public filings from the state of Iowa. Every line below links to the agency record it came from.
2015
Harlan, Iowa
Iowa DNR’s public facility record lists a spill reported on August 12, 2015.
2016–19
Harlan, Iowa
Iowa DNR records document a groundwater assessment examining potential impacts from the facility on Harlan’s municipal south well field.
2025–26
Lytton, Iowa
After illegal discharges, a 2026 Iowa DNR consent order required corrective action and imposed an $8,000 administrative penalty.
03Government handouts
Private companies.
Public support.
The pollution record is one part of the story. The other: companies under the same ownership received Iowa public funding and tax benefits.
2011
$508,530
2011
Lytton · Tax incentives
High Quality Jobs Program
State later reported this project as not proceeding.
$110,000
2012
$336,000
2013
$320,000
As of 2021
$939,020
As of 2021
$711,718
Total approved or awarded
Up to $2,925,268
Sum of the six non-overlapping figures shown above. It combines direct funding, reported tax benefits, maximum tax benefits and tax incentives; the $110,000 Lytton project was later reported as not proceeding. It does not mean the full total was received.
The records distinguish direct funding, tax incentives, tax benefits, and maximum tax benefits. Harlan and Lytton also appear in the pollution record above.
Iowa Economic Development AuthorityAward reports cited above
04The sequence
Pollution violations.
Iowa tax dollars.
$13 million to Rob Sand.
A record of pollution. Government handouts. Then the owners made Iowa’s largest combined political donation.
05If they elect Rob Sand
What do they
expect in return?
It takes ten seconds — and it matters.
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