We’re at war folks, right here in the heartland. Actually, it’s more like a blitzkrieg. Counties are finding themselves overwhelmed by the bombardment of “CAFO campaigns,” and for many, the invasion has already begun. Keloland [tv] touts the wonders of the new “dairy frontier,” our Secretary of Agriculture relentlessly advertises for corporate conversion of the “1-29 corridor,” and county commissions are renting their ears to outside investors instead of hearing the cry of their constituents. Because neither the state nor the EPA regulate where Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) are constructed, local citizens must determine whether or not a CAFO will put the environment, namely the water, at risk. County commissioners who have their county’s economic interests at heart mistakenly believe that CAFOs will improve living conditions for many in their county, and as a result, have unwittingly allowed CAFOs to build in areas that pose threats to the water system which supplies drinking water to over one-third of the state. I witnessed this process first-hand at the Moody County commission meeting in Flandreau, April 6th. Two CAFO businessmen provided estimates as to the benefits their corporations would bring the county. Jay Gilbertson, from East Dakota Water District, was there to contend that while storm accidents and environmental disasters can and do happen, the dairy factories, while less than _ of a mile from the shallow Big Sioux aquifer, would be “alright.” Days after his comments at the meeting, Gilbertson’s expertise again surfaced, this time on the mandated Big Sioux River study pointing to cattle and feedlots as a major source of a surprisingly heavy rise in pollution. Combine this new information with the mountains of evidence (www.epa.gov, www.nrdc.org) that CAFOs pollute water, soil, and air – for example, at livestock feedlots between 1995 and 1998 pollution events and spills happened one-thousand times across 10 states and 13 million fish died as a result of 200 manure-related fish kills; additionally, the CDC in 1996 ascertained a direct connection between miscarriages and high nitrate levels in drinking water wells located close to feedlots in Indiana, which also spreads the danger of methemoglobinemia (“blue-baby syndrome”), known to kill infants. Then, consider that the Ag Secretary’s “I-29 corridor”—the tract of land he so eagerly wants to fill with CAFOs—is the watershed for the Big Sioux River and aquifer. And what you’ll find is a recipe for a lower-standard of living at a higher cost to tax-payers and the environment. In this time of homeland security where we find ourselves fighting threats abroad, let’s not open ourselves to attacks from within. Don’t allow the slick marketing of those with the financial backing to silence local residents. Out of all the proponents who spoke that evening (our Secretary of Agriculture, various investors, and those who stood to profit), only one was a Moody county resident. Consider instead the plea of the Moody county man, one of many local opponents on April 6th given only 2-3 minutes to speak in response to the 60 minutes allowed the CAFOs, who said, “Are you gonna let these people come in and destroy the environment? Or, are you gonna stand up and fight for your water!?” The commission never answered him, but maybe we can. After all, it was the people of South Dakota he was asking. It’s your water.
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