CAFO Update for May 6th, 2008. Election Day!
Well, I’ve been out for a week, so let’s catch up:
First off, as Doug Masson says, VOTE!
On the CAFO Front, the PEW Center’s long-awaited report came out last week, the PDF is here: report. Big agriculture has been criticizing the report for months before it was released. From the looks of the report, they have cause to be concerned. . . .
Union County is looking at CAFO regulations more carefully in light of local uproar over a new dairy: Pal Item coverage.
Meanwhile, Randolph county is stuck in navel gazing mode while CAFO’s proliferate across it: Will Fourth Randolph CAFO Committee Make a Difference is the title of a piece in the Star Press by Joy Leiker:
The creation of this latest committee was announced Monday as commissioners gave reports on areas they had been asked to study in January, the same day they approved a CAFO moratorium. Following legal challenges, the moratorium was lifted two months later after the county conceded it never had the legal authority to impose a moratorium in the first place.
This group, like at least two others in the past, will include both proponents and opponents of CAFOs, specifically, representatives of Farm Bureau and Environmentally Concerned Citizens of Randolph County. But this new committee also will include a county commissioner.
“We’re not going to reach an agreement just sitting here,” Commissioner Kathy Beumer said, noting that a commissioner should join the discussion, and negotiations, since ultimately a county ordinance will need commission approval.
Last week Ms. Leiker reported on CAFO’s role in local politics: CAFOs Rule Randolph Commissioners Race.
