Letter to the Editor: Let your voice be heard for family farms

To the Editor:
What we need in Iowa is only family farms. I encourage everyone to write, call or email Governor Branstad, DNR Director Gipp and your reps in congress to change laws for the DNR. Iowa is invaded by confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs). I have a hog confinement going up 1,900 feet or so from my house door and another a half mile west of me. That one my neighbor (a family farmer) wanted but couldn’t outbid a CAFO owner.
These CAFOs pollute our waters with fecal bacteria, nitrogen and phosphorous. Also in the last 15 years there have been 715 reported manure spills, with most coming from factory farms. If you inner-tube the Turkey River you are swimming in it. So write your letter.
Another health hazard is in the air. Over 200 gases, including hydrogen sulfide and ammonia, are emitted (we are all breathing it, not just me). And do you know anyone with respiratory illness or asthma? CAFOs contribute to it, so write or call.
This pollution will stop/kill the birds enjoyed by the public at Cardinal Marsh, located a mile or two from the CAFOs. Will the DNR or Branstad be fined when a bald eagle is found dead from the pollution? I hold them responsible because Iowa’s congress and Branstad need to be on the same page and redo the laws governing the DNR, which passes the matrix for the CAFOs. In simple terms, a matrix is like an application filled out by the CAFO owner, and they grade themselves. To me, its like I take the bar exam, grade myself and now I’m a lawyer. They always pass themselves and then the DNR looks at the application and passes it. I question the “looking” the DNR does and you should too. So write your letter of concern.
I have written all of Iowa’s congress and written and emailed several times to Branstad. Only five congress people answered. Branstad ignores me and has his people refer me to the DNR. In other words, passing the buck. And the DNR and I have delightful arguments and here’s where I need the public’s help. Please voice your opinions by letter or email.
There can be no democracy when no politician will act in your interest. Change of the CAFOs will come if enough of the public will continually write, email and call all elected officials. This needs to be an issue in the next elections. Everyone, don’t wait until our environment is beyond repair or your child gets asthma. Which one of you wants to be the human sacrifice and contract MRSA? Yes, there are studies that say this can happen. So write and ask for new laws for CAFOs.
This is a quote from the Waterloo Courier of May 15, 2015: “Branstad has said in earlier comments that our water is getting cleaner. That’s just not true,” said Larry Ginter, a family farmer and Iowa CCI member from Rhodes. “Shame on any of Iowa’s leadership that continues to mislead the public about the crisis state of our waters.”
Another quote: “Branstad spokesman Jimmy Centers said the Governor’s commitment to water quality is demonstrated by his budget proposal to spend $57 million on it over two years.”
Let’s write him and tell him to “put your money where your mouth is” and pass legislation to stop or strictly regulate the CAFOs.
Everyone, let your voices be heard for our kids and family farms because congress and Branstad are turning Iowa’s motto into “Iowa: the hog septic hole of the United States.”

Connie Hanson
Cresco