5/2/15

Clay County contemplates CAFO caps

Concern over the further contamination of shallow aquifers that supply water to a third of East River has caused the Clay County Planning and Zoning Board to table for the second time in as many weeks changing the county ordinances governing Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations.
Board member and county commissioner Travis Mockler said his primary concern was with the limits on dairy operations. "The dairy number needs to be removed," he said. "Maybe we need to consider keeping the cap but allow variances where operators can prove they know how to operate a clean operation and they can then expand to say that 7,000 cap." Currently, dairy operations are capped at 3,200.
Read it here.
Water quality in the Big Sioux, James, and Vermillion rivers of South Dakota, which drain all or parts of 34 eastern counties, is impaired. Samples from these streams contain pollutants and physical impairments that limit their use for drinking water, fisheries, and water-related recreation. The persistence of poor water quality over many years relates to several land uses in the watersheds, namely, urban growth, and a variety of agricultural practices. [US EPA]
The current Republican autocrat governor signed the law passed by a SDGOP-dominated state legislature limiting local control over CAFOs.

Gov. Dennis Daugaard is a toady of industrial agriculture and denies the existence of the Anthropocene.

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