Action Neededon CAFO Bill

Dear Friends,

Legislative leadership continues to ignore the public clamor for fairer regulation of confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs). Time to act on this is limited.  The following information came to me today from a source inside the State Capitol.  I hope you will read it and take a few minutes to contact your lawmakers. 

An article in yesterday’s Des Moines Register outlines the manure-storage bill the House is sending over to the Senate.  Manure may seem boring, but this subject is critically important to tens of thousands of Iowans.

The Register article points out that under this bill, CAFO operators could stockpile manure adjacent to homes or as close as 400 feet to some Iowa waterways. Currently, newer confinement operations must keep manure inside a building or enclosed structure until it is disposed of.  This legislation has the strong backing of cattle, hog and poultry lobbyists and is sponsored by both Democratic and Republican leaders.

Opponents say the proposal flies against efforts to protect Iowans against pollution that can create foul odors or cause illness and death. Some Iowa residents in previous years who lived near manure stockpiles have scooped as many as five gallons of dead flies a day from around their homes during warm months.

Representative Mark Kuhn has been leading the charge for more balanced management of the CAFO industry.  On Wednesday, Kuhn brought a bucket of turkey manure to the State Capitol to help urban lawmakers understand the sickening smell that is the subject of the legislation they're considering. As of Wednesday evening, the bucket remained in the back of Kuhn’s pickup truck. No lawmaker had volunteered to take a sniff.

Kuhn tried unsuccessfully Wednesday to remove the stockpiling plan from the proposal during a House Agriculture Committee meeting.

I know this issue is complicated, and less than glamorous.  But it’s really important that the average person’s voice be heard in this debate.  Please let YOUR voice be heard.

Thanks,

Ed Fallon