peggy..would you mind if i forwarded this message to shirley ragsdale at the
register.  i contacted her a few months ago to thank her for her coverage of
nitrates in the d.m. river.  she seems fairly interested in the truth re:
these cafo's?  cathy livingston
----- Original Message -----
From: "Peggy Murdock" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, April 20, 2002 10:53 AM
Subject: Robert Kennedy at the Hog Summit


> Many of you have seen the negative publicity given to Robert Kennedy's
> speech at the Hog Summit by the Des Moines Register.  What they omitted
> were the stories he told about industrial vandalism on the Hudson River,
of
> the cities who were enticed by plentiful short term monetary gains for
> suspending their environmental regulations and, when the companies decided
> to move elsewhere in a few years, were left with massive unemployment and
> toxic cleanups that would challenge the resources of national governments.
> Bye the bye, I've heard that $250,000 as a clean up price for even one of
> those confinements is an underestimate and there is no financial assurance
> required to ensure that the costs of cleaning and restoring the land to
> agricultural productivity is borne by the industrial meat producers, as
> there are for waste tire facilities here in Iowa.
>
> The Register, which has railed on and on about Kennedy's speech, has
failed
> also to mention that there were hundreds of independent hog farmers in
> North Carolina when  industrial hog manufacturing began to settle in their
> floodplain, and today there is not a single independent hog farmer left in
> the whole state.
>
> Some people seem to persist in believing that the odor and toxic gas
> controversy is simply a matter of spoiled rich folks moving out into the
> country and expecting it to smell like a rose garden.  The truth is that
> there are Iowa farmers who have to stop their tractors mid-field and climb
> down to vomit because of the effects of the overwhelming stench. The truth
> is that there is a school dining room in Clarke County that is overwhelmed
> by the stench. The truth is that Iowans are sick because of an
> irresponsible industry whose representatives have told at least one Iowa
> farm wife that one of their goals is to drive family farmers out of
> business. Kennedy has shown us that that is exactly what does happen when
> the industry moves in.
>
> The Register also failed to report that the major portion of time during
> this conference was devoted to farmers who told us about responsible hog
> production right here in the midwest.  Two of these stand out in my mind,
> one, a video of what looked like a three or four old Swedish girl running
> about among the sows and their piglets, stroking the sows from time to
time
> on their sides.  We were told that many grown men are mortally afraid of
> their own sows.  The other story was from an American hog farmer who has
> built what he called a greenhouse for raising his pigs.  The building is
> built like an old fashioned wooden barn, but has a white roof that is
> permeated by light.  A single heating element is suspended from the center
> of the roof for use in heating the building on only the coldest of winter
> nights.  The environment in this building is so enticing to his whole
> family that they want to spend their time there rather than anywhere else.
> This was the only drawback he could see in his system.
>
> I certainly hope that those of us in the environmental community will
stand
> firm with Robert Kennedy and the Waterkeepers, who can bring justice to
> rural Iowa residents that the DNR and legislature until lately have done
> nothing to provide.
>
> Peggy Murdock
>
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