LEGISLATIVE ALERT:  Iowa's best chance to receive protection from the uncontrolled effect of factory farms.

The (Iowa) House Environmental Protection Committee has released a working draft of a fair and balanced bill, sponsored by Rep. Marci Frevert of Emmetsburg that is the public’s best chance to receive any protections from the uncontrolled infringement of factory farms (CAFOs) on the health of Iowa’s people and its land.

This bill increases public protections.

• It includes some buffer zones between factory farms and lakes and other waterways, planned developments, incorporated cities, and tourist areas;
• It tightens the threshold of construction approval through a stronger "matrix" system,
• It decreases allowed distances regarding the application of waste manure, from water sources and residences
• It increases distances between small farrowing and large CAFO operations.

The bill will be voted on next Tuesday, March 6^th , within the subcommittee, to determine whether it will see the light of day on the full house floor. These measures will go a long way to protect the future of Iowa’s waterways, the health of its rural citizens. and the viability of its small communities.This

Thousands of calls and emails need to be generated to every House representative and to each member of the House Environmental Protection Committee for this to pass.

Please email the HOUSE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION COMMITTEE members and your own HOUSE and SENATE representative!
(Their names are listed below.)

Please encourage them to support ALL LEGISLATIVE EFFORTS for local input for the siting of CAFOs

One sentence or two in your own words is worth hundreds of cut-and-paste mass emails, which are generally ignored by the recipients.
Among the ideas to express might be that they should support ALL LEGISLATIVE EFFORTS TO:

• protect Iowans' water, air and soil
• protect tourism areas and other regional economic concerns , and
• protect the small family farmer from the negative effect of nearby large operations.

You might mention in your own words that large-scale confined feeding operations can damage the environment, often cause respiratory difficulties for workers and neighbors, may spread disease to smaller neighboring operations, often reduce nearby property values, and have been associated with a decrease in economic and social viability of nearby communities.

More suggestions are at the very bottom of this email.

The members of the Environmental Protection Committee in the Iowa House are:

Donovan Olson, Chair   [log in to unmask]

Marcella Frevert (D, District 7), Vice Chair  [log in to unmask]

Steven Olson (R, District 83), Ranking Member  [log in to unmask]

Rich Anderson (R, District 97)  [log in to unmask]

Betty De Boef (R, District 76)  [log in to unmask]

Dave Deyoe (R, District 10)  [log in to unmask]

Jack Drake (R, District 57)   [log in to unmask]

Mary Gaskill (D, District 93)  [log in to unmask]

Pam Jochum (D, District 27)  [log in to unmask]

Bob Kressig (D, District 19)  [log in to unmask]

Mark Kuhn (D, District 14)  [log in to unmask]

Vicki Lensing (D, District 78)  [log in to unmask]

Helen Miller (D, District 49)  [log in to unmask]

Rick Olson (D, District 68)  [log in to unmask]

Tyler Olson (D, District 38)  [log in to unmask]

Tom Sands (R, District 87)  [log in to unmask]

Mark Smith (D, District 43)  [log in to unmask]

Ralph Watts (R, District 47)  [log in to unmask]

Beth Wessel-Kroeschell (D, District 4)  [log in to unmask]

Also, please email the House and Senate member from YOUR district, and request that they support ALL LEGISLATIVE EFFORTS to balance the needs of the livestock industry with the rest of Iowa's economy, with environmental concerns and the health and well-being of its citizens. (You can use the words from your other email).

You can find the name and email address of your House representative at: http://www.legis.state.ia.us/aspx/Legislators/houseEmail.aspx

You can find the email address of your Senator at http://www.legis.state.ia.us/aspx/Legislators/senateEmail.aspx

THANK YOU!

Additional points you might speak on are:

• any concern you might have about factory farms polluting the waterways and air in Iowa
• the need for local control for the siting of CAFOs
• studies that show higher asthma and respiratory disease rates in children living on or near CAFOs (see http://www.globegazette.com/articles/2006/10/27/local/doc45418c9b44bd1368301841.txt for details)
• studies that show reduced economic value, reduced property values and decreased quality of life in nearby communities (for reference, search on Google for "Community Health and Socioeconomic Issues Surrounding Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations
• any people you know whose life has been affected by factory farms
• the need for increased distances from residences, wells and waterways from the application of manure from CAFOs.
• the need for increased distances between newly-constructed CAFOs and towns, tourist areas and recreational waterways
• the need for increased distances between small farrowing operations and large factory farms (in order to reduce the spread of disease to small farmers' operations).