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OPPOSES PROPOSED MEGADAIRY The Illinois Department of Agriculture is considering
whether to approve an application by a California dairyman to build a
confined animal feeding operation, or CAFO, east of Galena in Jo Daviess
County. CAFOs are facilities that house hundreds or thousands of animals in
close quarters lacking vegetation. The animals are often kept in buildings
or outside pens, and their waste is stored in underground pits and ponds. If approved, the new Jo Daviess
“megadairy” would house at least 10,000 cows generating over 90
million gallons of manure annually, and the manure would be stored in 70
acres of manmade ponds. It would be the largest CAFO in the state. Much of the meat we buy in grocery stores comes from
CAFOs, but unfortunately these facilities are all too often improperly
designed or managed. CAFOs have polluted streams, groundwater, and domestic
wells; caused health problems in CAFO workers and nearby residents; fouled
the air with nuisance odors; and lowered property values. Infrequent
government inspections only compound these problems.
The CAFO proposed for Jo Daviess County should not be
approved because it is located in one of the most environmentally sensitive
areas of Illinois. The county is characterized by thin soils and fractured
bedrock and aquifers known as karst, making the groundwater particularly
prone to contamination. The rolling hills of the area will facilitate the
movement of land-applied manure into streams and the Apple River. Tourists
and outdoor enthusiasts who visit the area for hiking, fishing, and other
activities may find that their outing is spoiled by terrible odors and
manure-borne pathogens in the water. The clock is ticking as the Department of Agriculture
decides what to do. The Jo Daviess County Board has already voiced its
opposition, but the department has many times before gone against the
decisions of county boards. Without many voices raised in opposition, this
huge CAFO may set the precedent that Illinois is a fantastic place to put
more of them. People wanting to make a difference should call the office of
the governor and state, “I oppose the Jo Daviess County CAFO!”
Stacy James Champaign
I NEED A PLACE TO RECYCLE GLASS I, too, saw in Popular
Science the welcome news that Springfield
ranks where it does environmentally [“Cap City,” Feb. 21].
Because I don’t live in the city, there is no place to recycle glass
available to me. I’ve tried to find a location where I can deliver
glass, and the only one available is a factory in Lincoln. They do not have
a collection route that includes Springfield and vicinities. I have suggested several times to personnel at the
recycling centers in and around Springfield to accept glass bottles. There
is a newer method of sandblasting that uses pulverized glass instead of
sand. It is a cleaner and more environmentally efficient method. So far, it
has fallen on the ears of uninterested parties. Ed Gutierrez-Perry
Pleasant Plains
This article appears in Feb 21-27, 2008.
