One of America's Top Ten most endangered rivers, according to American Rivers, is now entering another battle against 28,000 hogs with a proposed new confinement.
Greene County residents were recently notified of a new hog nursery being proposed at 1721 290th street, south of Jefferson. The location is a scant mile from the Raccoon River, which is the drinking water source of 500,000 Iowans. It is also near Squirrel Hollow Park, Iowa's second oldest county park. The operation will be raising 28,000 pigs annually for Seaboard Foods, a multi-billion dollar corporation headquartered in Kansas.
"Do we smile and nod our heads as another landowner takes from the community and gives to the Pork Industry. Externalizing the cost of doing business on the local neighbors is the crux of our water quality problems in Iowa. What are they taking? Water for the animals, land for manure application (which can be seen as bacteria, nitrate and phosphorus disposal), air quality and quality of life for all those who: swim, wade, fish, and paddle downstream from Squirrel Hollow. How does this pork industry work? With tax subsidies. We subsidize: fuel, machinery, inputs, harvesting, transport of feed. We subsidize: construction of CAFOs, manure pits, manure spreading, vaccination, transport, slaughter, sales, shipping of pork to consumers in other countries." states Mike Delaney.
Take action now by signing the petition and writing why it's important to keep confined animal lots away from our rivers!
Click here for action before the permits are approved. https://secure.foodandwaterwatch.org/act/save-squirrel-hollow
For more information on the Raccoon River, one of America's top ten endangered rivers click here: https://endangeredrivers.americanrivers.org/raccoon-river/
Article written by Penny Perkins.
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