A Tempest Breaks Out Over Federal Aid for Indoor Rain Forest

Ted Townsend had a bold vision for a charity project, but he couldn’t seem to persuade donors of the value of his plan

to build a four-and-a-half-acre enclosed artificial rain forest on the Iowa prairie.

Seven years after creating the Iowa Child Foundation, Mr. Townsend, a wealthy Des Moines businessman, planned to put his own money into the project, but was also seeking help from others to raise the $180-million he needed for it. However, he did not make much headway in raising the money, according to the charity’s federal informational tax returns.

But in Washington, the project became easy to finance after it won the support of Sen. Charles E. Grassley, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. Mr. Grassley, an Iowa Republican, helped secure $50-million in 2004 for the effort — known as the Environmental Project — by writing that amount into a report accompanying a 455-page spending bill.

Proponents of the indoor rain forest say it will generate millions in tourist revenue for the state and make possible valuable scientific experiments about the environment. Critics call it a waste of government money. One letter to The Gazette, a Cedar Rapids newspaper, suggested that Iowans would learn more about the rain forest if the government awarded $5,000 grants for citizens to go spend six months in a real rain forest.

The earmark brought cries of outrage, both locally and nationally. It was named one of the “oinkers” of 2004 by Citizens Against Government Waste, a Washington watchdog group that protests “pork-barrel” spending. The group also gave Mr. Grassley a “Soaking the Taxpayers Award” for his role in securing money for the rain forest.

Senator Grassley defended the project, saying in an e-mail message that it “will help educate young and old about the rain forest” and generate $1-billion in economic activity for the state of Iowa.

Aides to the senator said part of the reason Mr. Grassley sought an earmark for the project was that it did not qualify for any federal-grant program. Earmarks, they say, provide a way to support cutting-edge ideas.

The controversy hasn’t hurt Mr. Grassley. He was re-elected last year despite criticism of the earmark by his Democratic opponent.

And the brouhaha has helped the project’s fund-raising efforts, says David Oman, executive director of the Environmental Project. “That federal appropriation has allowed us to open some doors in corporate America with some significant companies, to put the project out there for people to understand its scale and content,” Mr. Oman says.

Even with the federal money, the project remains short of its fund-raising goal. To date, the foundation has raised $97.5-million for the project: the $50-million earmark; $10-million from Mr. Townsend; $11-million from an out-of-state energy company; and $26.5-million worth of land and services from Coralville, where the rain forest will be built. If the foundation can’t raise enough to build the project, the federal money will be returned to the U.S. Treasury.