You can read the entire OpEd here
A paragraph or two in the editorial piece bothered me:
"The bay needs to be protected. The question is whether Maryland's poultry growers will able to meet the new restrictions and remain competitive with farms across the country."
"While the bay more than merits our concern, we must also not lose sight of the impact of poultry operations on Maryland's economy, particularly on the Lower Shore. If there were no longer a viable poultry industry, the impact would strike far beyond the loss of growers and processing plants."
The editorial piece ended by stating, "The EPA and the state must be prepared to offer whatever assistance growers require to enable them to comply with the new restrictions and remain economically viable."
The EPA is going to regulate the larger CAFO (confined animal feeding operations) facilities in Maryland and require a tighter control on the amount of water discharges from these operations through more stringent permitting, monitoring, and reporting.
The editorial was implying that if the EPA further regulates the industry in Maryland it may over-regulate them out of business.
I felt compelled to post a comment to their on-line editorial. It was posted 11/11/2009 at 10:55:44 AM. Interestingly, I just noticed tonight that my comment is no longer posted, while five other comments still remain on The Daily Times website editorial page.
What I wrote was that it is irresponsible to put this in an 'either-or' context. Wastewater is wastewater, whether it comes from humans, manufacturing, or chickens. Stormwater run-off is stormwater run-off, whether it comes from poultry operations or urban development.
Should we say our county taxes are too high and we should not have to pay for the permits, inspections and enforcement of our wastewater treatment facilities? Let's dump raw human sewage straight into our creeks, rivers and bays because it is simpler, cheaper and less time-consuming? (Gee, that is exactly what USED to happen before this country drafted federal pollution laws!)
Like it or not, the poultry industry on the Eastern Shore is just that - an industry. These corporations are just the same as if they were producing automobiles, furniture, clothing, or paint.
The difference in the state of Maryland is that the poultry corporations are allowed to pass off the cost of environmental pollution on to the backs of the contracted growers who work for them, and on to the communities that surround these industrial facilities.
A great little video from The Sierra Club - fun to watch even though it's a bit dated.
The industry's excuse that the chicken poop is a valuable commodity to the grower (it's used by the grower to fertilize his own crop fields or sold to another row crop farmer) can no longer be allowed to excuse them from accepting responsibility for the waste.
The fact is, larger and larger facilities are popping up all over the Eastern Shore. They are quickly replacing the small long narrow chicken houses you remember from your drives down Rt. 113. Every time I see a Perdue tractor trailer go down Rt. 113 with the pretty little farm house depicted on the side I have to laugh.
In reality, your chicken dinner is being grown in shiny silver 20,000 - 30,000 square foot buildings, usually 6 - 12 together, and in one case as many as 26 at one facility. These larger buildings can house up to 25,000 birds at one time, and sometimes five flocks can be cycled through in a year.
Mountaire CAFO in Somerset County - 26 30,000 square foot buildings
Here in Worcester County, despite some officials who claim the county's zoning laws will not allow such large CAFOs to be built, we are seeing a dramatic increase in these larger production facilities.
From Berlin, drive out Rt. 374 towards Powellville and just before you get to the little bridge over the Pocomoke River take a look to your right. What was once a scenic little farm (my artist friend painted the scene one year when the crop fields were golden yellow and the sun lit up the classic red barn,) is now a row of alien looking giant silver poultry houses. Where's that idyllic Perdue 'family farm' now??
Or take a back road tour down to Five Bridges Road in lower Worcester County, across the road from Dividing Creek. This huge facility will produce somewhere around a quarter of a million birds, tons of manure, and nearly half a million pounds of nitrates from the ammonia emissions coming out of those buildings.
So this brings us back to the EPA permitting and regulations. Where once there were crop fields, forest and upland wetlands to capture the rain water and infiltrate it back into the ground before it reached Dividing Creek, now we have thousands and thousands of square feet of hardened surface. Roof tops, cement pads, outbuildings, driveways. Stormwater run-off from these surfaces picks up whatever pollutants are on the ground of these facilities and carries it off to the nearest stream.
Manure that is loaded with e.Coli and coliform bacteria, nitrogen, phosphorous, arsenic, other heavy metals - not to mention the pharmaceuticals that are used to keep 25,000 closely confined animals living.
Until the politicians and agency heads in this state develop the political will to require the poultry corporations to accept responsibility for the waste their industry is producing, then the EPA will have to come in and do it for them. And in this state, that puts the burden on the contracted grower (the family farmer.)
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