Community Health Debate in Somerset County

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MAY 5, 2015

SOMERSET COUNTY RESIDENTS QUESTION DELMARVA POULTRY INDUSTRY (DPI) INFLUENCE ON PUBLIC HEALTH ORDINANCE

Residents fear May 7 Planning Commission meeting will ignore their demand County protect the public health from industrial scale poultry factories.

Princess Anne, MD, May 5, 2015– On Thursday May 7^th at 7 pm, the Somerset County Planning Commission will be addressing the extremely contentious discussion about the expansion of poultry CAFO complexes and public health concerns, as they decide if the county should adopt a Public Health Ordinance.  The meeting will be held at 11916 Somerset Ave. in Princess Anne, MD. 

Residents of Somerset County had met with their PlanningCommission members in November 2014 about their concerns related to the expansion of new industrial scale Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) complexes in their rural communities, and are now concerned that their request for a stakeholder workgroup to discuss the human health impacts from large scale animal operations close to residential neighborhoods has been ignored.  

They are concerned the Planning Commission has by-passed their request to let residents, county health department, county staff, and agriculture representatives work together to make recommendations to county planning staff for changes to county zoning codes related to public health and CAFO developments.

Lisa Inzerillo, a resident of Backbone Road near Princess Anne, expressed her concern,  “We asked specifically for residents and the county health department to be part of a stakeholder group that would make recommendations to the County Commissioners.  As a fourth generation farm owner, I have serious concerns about the Delmarva Poultry Industry’s credentials when dealing with public health.”

 

On November 6, 2014, a panel of speakers, including representatives from Johns Hopkins Center For a Livable Future and the Maryland Institute of Applied Environmental Health, spoke to the Planning Commission about county residents’ concerns related to the health impacts from large scale animal feeding operations and about the how the Somerset County family farmer is being replaced by “CAFO Developers” who are often outside investors with seemingly no attachment to the land.  Panelists and citizens raised concerns about the cumulative impacts of air emissions, disease transmission, water quality impacts and withdraws, the spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria, and family safety because of increased tractor-trailer traffic on narrow back roads in their communities.

Tom Kerchner, a former resident of Wicomico County who moved to Somerset County for its rural landscape but is now selling his Princess Anne home asked: “What about our seat at the table? The residents asked for two things-to be part of the stakeholder process for a public health ordinance that addresses cumulative impacts from these million bird CAFO complexes moving next to residential neighborhoods, and for a moratorium on new CAFO developments until this process was completed. We got neither.” questioning the legitimacy of the upcoming meeting and noting the appointed , not elected, Planning Commission members, some who have a direct interest in the poultry industry, could make a final recommendation to the County Commissioners with no further public comment or discussion allowed at the May 7 meeting.
  

Maria Payan, Community Organizer for Assateague Coastal Trust stated:  “ When Delmarva Poultry Institute, the biggest trade group for the industry is submitting voluntary “BMP’s For Good Neighbor Relations” as a health recommendation-the problem in Somerset County goes way beyond public health. A serious health concern has been turned over to a special interest group whose function is for promotion of this industry. The residents are insulted by the arrogance and condescending remarks in DPI’s brief proposal to the Planning Commission, such as “Following snow storms, growers should offer to plow out neighbors. “

Somerset residents not only have to worry about increased density of poultry complexes but also about the state-supported plan to site a poultry litter incinerator in the County. Manure incineration would be another black eye for a Somerset community that already suffers from over-industrialization.  Air emissions inventories from the only poultry litter incinerator in the country reveal that these facilities produce as much, or more, toxic emissions than Maryland’s coal plants. Many of the pollutants also have been tied to adverse reproductive, cancer and respiratory outcomes.  Equally disturbing are the environmental justice implications of the incineration siting since Somerset County is the poorest County in the State with one of the highest African-American populations on the Eastern Shore.

Clifton Harcum, a social entrepreneur and community organizer, commented:  “There is not only a public health problem, but there is a democracy problem, and an environmental justice problem. One only needs to look at the demographics of leadership and the decisions they make about where industry is located in the County. It’s very clear. ”

Dr. Kirkland Hall, of Somerset County, is urging residents to come out to the Planning Commission Meeting on Thursday at 7pm and be included in any discussions.

Dr. Hall stated:  “Environmental Justice is an extension of the work I’ve done my whole life as a Community Civil Rights and Human Relations Activist. We are already overburdened with disproportionate pollution. We don’t need to replace our family farms with industrial CAFO developers and we need to stop greenwashing manure incineration. Smokestacks with carcinogenic toxins spewing into our children’s lungs is not a solution.”

# # #

If you live in Somerset County, or have an interest in this issue, you should attend the Somerset County Planning Commission meeting in Princess Anne at 7pm on Thursday, May 7.  Meeting is being held at the County Govt. office building: 11916 Somerset Ave., Princess Anne, MD 21853.