To: Governor John Kasich
Tell Ohio Governor: Protect Drinking Water From Factory Farm Pollution!
We should never have a situation where hundreds of thousands of residents and businesses go without clean water to drink, cook and wash with, but that's just what happened the first week of August in Toledo, due in large part to pollution from factory farms.
I urge you to protect the waters of Ohio from agricultural pollution by passing legislation with enforceable standards for manure and fertilizer. Ohio's recently passed "fertilizer bill" was inadequate, as the legislation failed to implement clear standards for handling animal wastes that will ensure that animal confinement operations are compliant. Strong laws in Great Lakes states are key to protecting our water and agricultural resources, and new legislation could set the bar for our neighboring states.
I urge you to protect the waters of Ohio from agricultural pollution by passing legislation with enforceable standards for manure and fertilizer. Ohio's recently passed "fertilizer bill" was inadequate, as the legislation failed to implement clear standards for handling animal wastes that will ensure that animal confinement operations are compliant. Strong laws in Great Lakes states are key to protecting our water and agricultural resources, and new legislation could set the bar for our neighboring states.
Why is this important?
400,000 people in the Toledo area were without water the first weekend in August, and factory farms are the culprit.
Lake Erie is the source of drinking water for 11 million people. Like most areas with large factory farms that apply huge amounts of manure to farm lands, the soil in Ohio is supersaturated with nutrients. And when rains come, that excess is carried away by the water and ends up in Lake Erie. There, the nutrients feed algae, creating large algae blooms.
The algae can produce powerful toxins that can cause everything from rashes, to gastroenteritis, to neurotoxicity. Clearly it’s a major problem — a public health hazard.
Earlier this year, when Ohio lawmakers had the chance to fix the problem, they passed a bill that fell dangerously short of meaningful reform. In lieu of setting up clear, enforceable standards that would address the overabundance of phosphorous in the soil and rein in runoff from factory farms, the law simply creates a fertilizer certification program that exempts manure, which is a huge source of the phosphorus that is causing the algae blooms. The law also includes a voluntary, not mandatory, nutrient management plan program.
We know why false solutions like this keep being offered — the corporate interests that benefit from creating large amounts of fertilizer in the form of animal manure refuse to take responsibility for the pollution that manure creates. Instead, they seek to give the appearance of action while residents bear the burden of unclean water: drinking water bans, aquatic dead zones and lakes closed to swimming.
Tell Governor Kasich to pass sensible legislation to protect Ohio’s water from factory farms!
Lake Erie is the source of drinking water for 11 million people. Like most areas with large factory farms that apply huge amounts of manure to farm lands, the soil in Ohio is supersaturated with nutrients. And when rains come, that excess is carried away by the water and ends up in Lake Erie. There, the nutrients feed algae, creating large algae blooms.
The algae can produce powerful toxins that can cause everything from rashes, to gastroenteritis, to neurotoxicity. Clearly it’s a major problem — a public health hazard.
Earlier this year, when Ohio lawmakers had the chance to fix the problem, they passed a bill that fell dangerously short of meaningful reform. In lieu of setting up clear, enforceable standards that would address the overabundance of phosphorous in the soil and rein in runoff from factory farms, the law simply creates a fertilizer certification program that exempts manure, which is a huge source of the phosphorus that is causing the algae blooms. The law also includes a voluntary, not mandatory, nutrient management plan program.
We know why false solutions like this keep being offered — the corporate interests that benefit from creating large amounts of fertilizer in the form of animal manure refuse to take responsibility for the pollution that manure creates. Instead, they seek to give the appearance of action while residents bear the burden of unclean water: drinking water bans, aquatic dead zones and lakes closed to swimming.
Tell Governor Kasich to pass sensible legislation to protect Ohio’s water from factory farms!