Research shows that the USDA and EPA estimate that livestock in the USA produces 130 times the amount of manure produced by the entire human population of this country.

Spills from CAFOs have killed fish; phosphorus in land and water has been correlated with livestock density; and manure has caused eutrophication (excessive nutrients in water, caused by runoff of animal waste, which causes a dense growth of plant life; the decomposition of the plants depletes the supply of oxygen, leading to the death of animal life).

Professor John Ikert, an agricultural economist with the University of Missouri, at Columbia, sums up the problems in a recent report, “Piling up too much ‘stuff' in one place causes problems.” Writing specifically about swine CAFOs, he reported, “if you spread out the hogs and let hog manure lay where it falls in a pasture, it doesn't bother anyone very much. But if you start collecting it, flushing it, spreading and spraying it around - all normal practices in hog CAFOs - it becomes air pollution.”

Because of the problems associated with CAFOs, many states have enacted severe restrictions on permits. For example, in 1997, Oklahoma mandated setbacks and other pollution controls, and in 1998, its legislature enacted a moratorium on new livestock permits. Kansas, an agriculture-friendly state, enacted a moratorium on CAFOs, and is considering legislation to end CAFOs.

In 1998, the North Carolina Legislature, faced with unregulated establishment of CAFOs, enacted House Bill 1480, extended a moratorium, and mandated substantial elimination of both atmospheric emission of ammonia and odor beyond the boundary of existing CAFOs.

Minnesota enacted similar odor control legislation in 1997 and established both a complaint control protocol and an enforcement response protocol specific to CAFOs.

Our elected town officials need to act now, before it is too late.

Nicole Ward

Montezuma