FYI, and another 2 LTEs this morning on the same subject, although not the
same opinion!
Lyle
Letters to the Editor
By Register Readers
12/06/2003
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Farmers DO protect the environment
In the Nov. 21 editorial, "Seize the Opportunity," the Register ponders:
What if livestock producers showed up (to support regulations).
Livestock producers have been very responsible about protecting the
environment. Of course there have been a few bad players. There are in every
industry. However, the livestock industry ends up being vilified no matter
how good a job it's doing.
One good example of this has been taking place in Mahaska County. The
Mahaska Rural Water Systems Inc. has been serving hog producers producing a
combined 300,000 hogs a year and testing the water coming out of the South
Skunk River regularly since 1996. Director Randy Pleima reports nitrate
levels have declined consistently. Pleima said, "We have been seeing good
levels because of the buffer-strip program with buffers placed along streams
and because all the manure is knifed into the ground. . . . They all have
manure-management plans, and that plays a role, too. So there is no rising
pollution from hogs."
Obviously, this is the case in Mahaska County. Why isn't this big news as it
would be if there were an accidental fish kill somewhere?
When the hostility toward this industry results in it leaving for greener
pastures in South America, we will not just be stopping loads of tainted
green onions from entering our food supply. We will have to worry about the
safety of our meat supply.
Betty R. DeBoef,
state representative,
House District 76,
What Cheer.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sue State over hog confinements?
Could an Iowa farm family sue the state for negligence over a
hydrogen-sulfide-related confinement death?
Confinements are essentially the same as sewer pipes and other confined
wastewater-related spaces. Both contain untreated fecal waste generating the
poisonous gases hydrogen-sulfide and ammonia. Both need forced ventilation
for humans or animals to be in them.
The diseases contracted by humans (and animals) spending time in or around
either are the same, and the causes of death, usually from hydrogen-sulfide
asphyxiation, are the same.
In every sector in America where these conditions exist, the regulations are
the same - except in agriculture. Because we do not regulate these
conditions in agriculture, farmers are not required to be educated about the
dangers involved in using this industrial technology. They are not required
to have safety equipment available to them when they enter these structures,
or to follow the prescribed safety procedures.
In Iowa, deaths from hydrogen-sulfide poisoning are four times higher in
agricultural confinements than in the wastewater industry.
Farmers and farm workers should be afforded the same protections as the rest
of Iowa's citizens. If the Legislature will not extend those protections to
them, then the courts should force them to do so. Some farm family should
sue the state for neglecting their right to be protected from a known
dangerous industrial technology.
Bob Watson,
Decorah.
___________________________________________________
Lyle R. Krewson
Sierra Club Conservation Organizer
6403 Aurora Avenue #3
Des Moines, IA 50322-2862
515/276-8947
515/238-7113 - cel
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