Poweshiek CARES meeting: April 23, 2013

Poweshiek CARES met on April 23, beginning at 8:45 p.m., following the showing of a documentary called American Meat at the Rosenfield Center at Grinnell College.

We discussed our upcoming meeting with representatives of the Environmental Health Sciences Research Center at the University of Iowa, which is offering us assistance in some relevant projects -- speakers, research data, and the possibility of working with local farmers, residents, and scholars at Grinnell College to inquire into the effects of animal confinements.

Several suggestions were aired: a program of monitoring air and water quality and accurately describing its health effects -- perhaps in the form of a dynamic map, focusing on the environmental consequences of changes in farming practices; investigating sustainable alternatives to CAFOs that would not have adverse health and environmental consequences (toxicity of air, quality of food product); a “bucket course” or a series of public lectures on public health and its relation to the environment; a program of education and cooperation with representatives of groups opposing animal confinements in other counties.

Joyce Otto, Marilyn Barnes, and Sandy Moffett met with the Poweshiek County Board of Supervisors and with two local farmers to try to work out a new set of policies for dealing with applications for the construction of new animal factories. (Sandy had suggested a series of “workshops” of this sort, on progressively broader topics.

The Spervisors spent some time justifying their current practices, and then the group went over the master matrix, suggesting adjustments in the points for distances, a larger number of points for filters, a rise in the “passing grade,” and a requirement for getting agreement from all the neighbors. Sandy's opinion, however, is that the matrix is so flawed that it should be discarded entirely. Unfortunately, this appears to be unrealistic legislatively.

Sandy reported that the most hopeful thing that came out of the meeting was not the tinkering with the matrix, but the idea of a “good neighbor” resolution from the Board of Supervisors, expressing the view that good neigbors do not pollute one another's air and water. This could be a step towards eventual reform of the matrix system. Palo Alto County is said to have adopted such a resolution in October 1997.

Marilyn Barnes reported that our state Senator, Tim Kapucian, wants to meet with Poweshiek CARES after the legislative session is over, bringing along a couple of representatives of the Department of Natural Resources.