To: The Illinois State House, The Illinois State Senate, and Governor J.B. Pritzker
No CAFO! Don’t Let Factory Farms Ruin Rural Illinois!
I urge you to support legislation that protects rural communities from the harmful impacts of factory farms. The Illinois Livestock Management Facilities Act needs to be amended to reflect public concerns. Watch our video at www.prairierivers.org/factoryfarmfix
Why is this important?
We are Save Our Sandy, which is also our battle cry! We are in a fight to preserve what has existed in rural Marshall County, Illinois for generations. We live along Sandy Creek, where our pioneer ancestors settled after looking for clean water, trees for their cabins, and grass for their livestock. Now a mega hog factory wants to locate next to our beloved creek, and next to us.
Their plan is to house nearly 20,000 hogs in three huge buildings, storing the animal waste in deep concrete pits below the hogs. We are devastated by the news.
Our fears are many because the environmental track record of hog factories is poor. Many hog factories have been prosecuted for polluting nearby streams. Hog waste contains antibiotic-resistant superbugs and harmful gases. The fumes travel several miles downwind.
The proposed hog factory will produce an incomprehensible 10 million gallons of waste annually. We will be unable to enjoy the outdoors or keep our windows open. Our homes will be extremely difficult to sell, losing much of their value.
Our county board is against this hog factory, but the decision is not in our community’s hands.
Changes to the Livestock Management Facilities Act need to be made so neighbors like Save Our Sandy are protected.
Their plan is to house nearly 20,000 hogs in three huge buildings, storing the animal waste in deep concrete pits below the hogs. We are devastated by the news.
Our fears are many because the environmental track record of hog factories is poor. Many hog factories have been prosecuted for polluting nearby streams. Hog waste contains antibiotic-resistant superbugs and harmful gases. The fumes travel several miles downwind.
The proposed hog factory will produce an incomprehensible 10 million gallons of waste annually. We will be unable to enjoy the outdoors or keep our windows open. Our homes will be extremely difficult to sell, losing much of their value.
Our county board is against this hog factory, but the decision is not in our community’s hands.
Changes to the Livestock Management Facilities Act need to be made so neighbors like Save Our Sandy are protected.