To the editor,

As a property owner in Rock Elm Township for the last 50 years, I've watched what has happened to my neighbor's family farms, most of which were forced out of dairy as big agriculture told them to get big or get out. Farmers expanded and then were forced out in the 80s and 90s, and the remaining farms are at the mercy of the bankers who decide if they grow or sell out. Now, absentee-owned LLCs see Pierce County as a political soft spot to locate these massive industrial dairy operations.

Ridge Breeze Dairy LLC, an industrial enterprise, wants to expand to 9,010 Animal units. They exploit right-to-farm laws to establish industrial milking factories in local communities without the necessary protective ordinances.

Ridge Breeze must dispose of over 12,000 semi-loads of liquid manure. Over 80 million gallons of liquid manure industrial waste spread on farmland at levels that can contaminate groundwater, making it unsafe to drink. They will ship in a similar volume of feed and forage on our roads. They need high-capacity wells that drain our groundwater and barns larger than industrial Amazon Distribution Centers.

The Breeze Dairy Group, the LLC that owns Ridge Breeze Dairy, recently purchased a 49% interest in a local cheese factory. These are not farms; they are Industrial Operations that destroy our environment, groundwater, and air quality while lowering our property values.

Right-to-farm laws and zoning ordinances shouldn't protect these industrial operations. Like other industrial operations, they should be subject to strict County Zoning and Town Operations Ordinances. Pierce County needs to revise zoning laws so these deep-pocketed absentee LLCs can't run roughshod over Pierce County families. Protecting our way of life will not harm any farming neighbors.

Let's protect the quality of life in Pierce County. Let's do it now!

Ted Miner

Elmwood