I attended the Bayfield County board meeting the other night to talk about the proposed CAFO during public comments. This is what I said: In Michigan from 2000 to 2014, there have been 1117 violations documented by federal and state agencies, not counting ongoing violations. The vast majority of these pertain to waste (excrement) mishandling, which more often than not compromised fresh water supplies. In May 2013, the PED virus (porcine epidemic diarrhea) was first detected in the US. By February 2014, it had spread to 25 states. By March 2014, less than 10 months later, an estimated 4-5 million baby pigs have died in the US from this disease. Property values may go down, but even if they dont, property WILL be harder, if not impossible, to sell because of the smell. CAFOs store their manure underground or in lagoons, and the smell changes as a result of this storage before it gets spread on fields 6-12 months later, making it much stronger than normal. 58% of all swine confinement workers manifest chronic bronchitis. This statistic comes from the American Lung Association. The county will have to deal with issues of road upgrades and continuous additions of gravel to gravel roads due to the heavy trucks hauling liquefied manure. Fish Creek and the White River are very close to the site of this particular CAFO. According to the EPA, as much as 80% of antibiotics administered to livestock pass through the animals unchanged. This manure is then spread on cropland, where there is the potential for runoff into waterways. Maslowski Beach is less than 7 miles from the site of this particular CAFO. Odors from CAFOs typically carry for a 3-mile radius but up to 6 or 7 miles with wind. Fine particles of manure are airborne during spraying. Once you open the door to CAFOs, its nearly impossible to close it, and they tend to concentrate in areas where they get permitted. I reminded the board that we are the stewards of Lake Superior, the last living lake of the Great Lakes, and asked them to please do all they can do to protect us and the water. Today, while doing a bit more research on CAFOs, I discovered that when this manure DOES run off, due to the high phosphorus levels, it tends to promote algae blooms in water. Algae blooms in water can kill wild rice. I would urge people to write or call the board members to voice your concerns! They werent able to talk about it amongst themselves because it wasnt on the agenda, but it was suggested that they form a CAFO committee and/or put the subject on a future agenda. I had to leave early because I dont have functioning headlights on my car. Only 3 other people spoke up concerning the CAFO, all were against it.
Posted on: Fri, 03 Oct 2014 05:00:05 +0000
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