Dear Editor,

In a way, we feel sorry for the White family. Not because their original hog confinement proposal was denied by the DNR, which only did its duty under Iowa law. No we feel sorry for the Whites because we don’t think they realize exactly how they are setting themselves up for a loss.

Someone has been tickling their ears with promises of financial gain for little effort. All they have to do is build a facility and tend Cargill’s swine herd under contract. They even get to keep the manure, sweetening the deal when commercial fertilizer is so expensive. What could be simpler?

For starters, they must sink hundreds of thousands worth of borrowed money into a single purpose facility that has a lifespan as short as 10 years. The hog manure fermenting, in the underground manure pits for months on end will eat away at the concrete, weakening it while escaping through cracks. The humidity and manure vapors will attack the wooden rafters and the slat floors. Tending the hogs will expose the Whites to health hazards, including concentrated ammonia and hydrogen sulfide gasses (deemed toxic waste), which must be continuously vented from the facility to prevent animal deaths. If any of the White family members are working in the facility when the vents go off they could die right along with the hogs within three minutes. A similar case where an employee died in a CAFO (Confined Animal Feeding Operations) was just recently in the Iowa news. It would scare us to death to have any of our family subject themselves to such dangerous situations day in and day out. The hazards of manure disposal are an entirely different issue altogether.

The Whites must undertake significant financial responsibility, liability, and personal risk for this project. If it is successful, the payoff date is right around the time when the facility will begin showing its age. Forgive us if that sounds more like indenture servitude than a family farm. We do know one thing – there is no such thing as easy money.

The Whites have been quoted saying, “Personal property rights is where the line is drawn. We have a democracy, the people are trying to control what we can do on our own land.” We agree, but, when what you do on your land affects me on mine, you have crossed the line. When our property value drops a minimum of 30 percent because we live within 1 ½ miles of a CAFO, and we have to breath and smell a toxic waste with unknown side affects and basically be used as human guinea pigs, you have crossed the line. Dr. Michael Kauzlarich, D.O. mentioned a brief review of the current medical literatures and a myriad of public health concerns related to CAFOs in his letter to the editor. See Monday, Aug. 14, 2008 issue of the Daily Iowegian, page 4. It is well worth the read.

It’s interesting to know the Whites are also quoted as saying, “I have tried to do the right thing.”

Our question is: When does the right thing become wrong? It becomes wrong when what you do on your land imposes on mine. We can all talk and say the right things. It’s our actions that tell all. We were always taught, “To have good neighbors, you have to be a good neighbor.”

Bryan and Laura Daniels

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