Sounds like Riverview Farms got spooked by the opposition in Grant County: word from a couple of my sources is that Grant County Commissioner Paul Dummann informed opponents yesterday that Riverview Farms pulled its request for a permit for a 5,700-head concentrated animal feeding operation in Kilborn Township.
Coverage here generated some spirited discussion from commenters for and against the proposed project. If the proposed Grant County project is dead, I will join a number of folks up north in breathing a sigh of relief... and then breathing in a nice whiff of clean country air. Even if there's a market for more dairy products, we shouldn't satisfy that market with further hyperindustrialization of agriculture.
Why dont you blog about something you about, you have no clue about Riverview, and or the dairy industry. Are you from Madison, or are you a Kilborn "Baby"
ReplyDeleteGolly, Anon, I checked my official blog license, and it didn't say anything about the geographical boundaries of the areas about which I'm allowed to blog.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, Anon, I'm from Madison... which appears to be infinitely more than you are willing to tell me about yourself....
All im asking is get some facts before you go off talking about topics you dont know anything about.
ReplyDelete"get some facts..." Let's see... links to news articles, e-mails and comments from folks who live in Kilborn township... I guess I thought getting some facts was what I was doing. But feel free, Anon, to contribute some more facts, if you have any that you think would expand our understanding.
ReplyDeleteComments from Kilborn Folks are facts huh?
ReplyDeleteI tend to trust my neighbors before I trust outside corporations. But again, feel free to provide evidence to the contrary rather than this string of one-liners. The folks of Kilborn Township and I wait with bated breath for the enlightenment you have to offer (and what was your name again?)....
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the Grant County situation. When you see one of these CAFOs backed by outside corporations step in, you are bound to see several more standing in line to follow.
ReplyDeleteThe Big AG Dairy industry (I'm most certainly NOT referring to the small dairy farmer) has a tendancy to look at their expansion plans like they are plotting a war zone, seeing where all their battle ships can be located to support the new co-ops they plan to bring with them.
You are right to breath a sigh of relief and relish the fresh, clean country air that comes with it.
As a witness to what happened in the massive Dairy expansions in the Newton/Jasper county area, I can tell you straight -- your fears with respect to odor and health are well justified. Further, you should see what has happened to our waters -- including our aquifer.
The small and medium towns surrounding these huge dairy complexes have no idea what is leaching into their own tap water and most have absolutely no concept of how expensive the microfilter upgrade would be to prevent it.
It's a pity that Chron's disease is not a reportable illness (it's voluntary reporting only) in this country. The map of outbreaks would provide a shocking picture, indeed.
But the pro-cafo lobbyists and powerful integrated food corps will never let that kind of information reach the light of day in this country. It would most likely destroy some major brands across this nation -- and other nations.
CAFOs can be run effectively, up to a point, but IDEM is sadly obtuse in their approach to the waist management side of these operations. The damage to soils and waters... the dangers to public health, both near these farms and in our grocery stores... it will be a long time before the Government can no longer hide the truth from its population.
Good luck to you on your efforts to keep your county safe from what would surely be an onslaught in the future.
Thank you K Meyers;
ReplyDeleteWe certainly have had to educate ourselves in a hurry, there are gaps in our info for sure, but smaller gaps than if we swallowed whole the idea that the state denr is completely looking out for our interests.
Personally, i have spent a lot of time w/the denr, on the phone and on the website.
There is this continual myth that it it the little guys that pollut, and while i would never say they don't pollute that myth seems to have started from an unfinished study from Jay Gilbertson, at the time of the study there were only 3 feedlots of over 1,000 in that area, one was a big polluter, one medium and one a small polluter. most of the biggish ones in the area did not report at all.
According to one of my sources, who i trust Jay has said he is not a statistics guy.
This study has never been published, but even those who confess to be quite ignorant on ag issues (V. Rausch for example) seem able to trot out that this study was done.
One of the things many of us have learned is that if we don't want it here most other people don'twant it by them either, what can we do to help those people? Is our lifestyle encouraging these places or not?
Now the windpower people are coming around trying to sell us on how wonderful it would be to have giant windmills all over her coteau and transmission lines coming over our land. Is it really a great idea, or are we asking for health problems?
Time to start looking into this situation very seriously, is it worth a couple of thousand dollars to have these lines so near?
joelie hicks