I am sure there is fatigue among many readers of the Pierce County Journal to continue to read both sides of the controversy surrounding the expansion of Ridge Breeze Dairy.

I will try to keep this short and sweet; well, as sweet as 80 million gallons of liquid manure can smell.

This past Saturday I attended the public hearing at Rock Elm Town Hall along with 70 or so other concerned neighbors on both sides of the issue. I want to say the board did an amazing job or running a tight and informative public hearing to listen to all who wanted to share their opinion. This is the way that local governments that are closest to all of us who live in or near Rock Elm should address this huge addition to our area! Listen to its people! Have a discussion, form an opinion and make a decision. It is what Maiden Rock, Isabelle and Gilman have done so well; I personally hope public hearings can be held at most if not all local townships if they haven’t already. Like Rock Elm’s town board, they all need to hear what the community is feeling, thinking and their concerns either way.

With this massive expansion, many of us are concerned about accountability. The only way to hold these absentee investors accountable is to have some sort of oversight. That’s all many of us are looking for: OVERSIGHT. Factory farm lobbyists argue that these huge CAFO farms are already heavily regulated. The truth is, the regulations that are in place are largely based on self-reporting and are completely inadequate. And the factory farm activists are fighting now to have even those regulations eliminated! Big Ag is not the same as our Grandpa’s farm. It must have oversight! Oversight to cover the following that are currently not properly regulated. These include air pollution, infectious disease, carcass disposal, road use, water use, biosecurity, fire response, impacts on property values, and covering expenses for clean-up if needed. All that the operations ordinance asks for is a plan from the operator on how they will address these aspects of their operation.

Oversight equals accountability.

I am sure these investors who live on the other side of the state are fine people. But will they care more about our roads, our water quality, the safety of our creeks and rivers, the smells that will permeate our neighborhoods, and important to all of us, our property and way of life in this beautiful area? Or will they care more about their bottom line?

I really don’t believe that non-residents of this area will have as much concern about our way of life here, as much as how they will recoup millions and millions of dollars they have invested in this massive operation. Just look at what happened with frac sand mines.

All we are asking is that these ordinances that townships are considering are adopted as something to fall back on. If or when something catastrophic happens onsite or in the fields and valleys of our beautiful home, as we have seen in this area in the past, we have “some kind of insurance” to correct the problem, the mistake or accident. That’s all we’re asking: accountability.

Oversight equals accountability. Accountability is simple common sense.

Thank you, Rock Elm and the other town boards that are taking a closer look at protecting our livelihoods, our families and our futures. Please give us a listen and we hope that you will adopt these ordinances to make them accountable.