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Special issue : Whispering Pines Threatened
Letters originally posted to the files section of the Awakening Isis NewsGroup on September 29th, 2003, and addressed to Ernie Eves.
Letter to Dalton McGuinty
Date______________________
To The Honorable Dalton McGuinty
Premier of Ontario
Drear Mr. Eves,
The environment is an election issue.
There is a Threat to Pendleton, Ste-Rose de Prescott, St. Albert and all surrounding areas. This is a historic moment for our communities.
Industrial hog farms are targeting Prescott-Russell. Three permit applications for intensive pork production operations have been approved for Pendleton, Ste-Rose de Prescott and St Albert in The Nation Municipality.
This represents a huge threat to our environment, health, property values, and quality of life. Everyone in Pendleton Ste-Rose de Prescott and St Albert and the surrounding areas will be affected. How can we protect the future of our children?
What's the problem?
Noxious Odours and Toxic Gas
The odour associated with the manure of industrial hog barns is far worse than that associated with a normal agricultural environment. It can engulf entire communities and destroy residents' quality of life. It may impact on health: headaches, nausea and loss of appetite, exacerbation of asthma and respiratory problems. Odour and health concerns are intensified when liquid manure is spread or sprayed on fields, as over 150 gaseous compounds are released (hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, carbon dioxide, methane, etc). Summer heat and humidity intensify the smell; wind spreads it over large areas.
Plumetting Property Values
The attack on the quality of life and the damage to the environment would have a dramatic impact on the local real estate market. No one wants to buy a house in intensive hog-farming areas. Property values could decrease steeply, by 30% or more.
Water Contamination
Industrial hog farms significantly impact on water quality. There is runoff and leaching from fields where manure has been sprayed. Leakage and major spillage from storage tanks and lagoons occur.Liquid manure sprayed in the fields leaches underground and sooner or later reaches ground water. Significant contamination of water wells may include cancer-producing nitrates, phosphates, bacteria like E. Coli and Salmonella, parasites like Cryptosporidium, as well as residue from antibiotics necessarily used in such intensive livestock production.
The farm proposed at Pendleton, runs dangerously close along the Nation River that supplies water to neighbouring townships.
Liquid manure can run off from the fields into ditches and rivers, and flow into lakes. There the excess in nitrogen creates overgrowth of algae and other aquatic plants, drawing large quantities of oxygen from rivers and killing fish. As well, filtering drinking water becomes much more expensive for municipalities when its source has been contaminated with soluble nitrogen and phosphorus.
Massive spills of manure, caused by human error or weather conditions, are another serious concern associated with intensive livestock facilities. Serious spills have already happened in Ontario. In 1999 leaks from underground manure storage tanks of two separate hog facilities in Ashfield Township fouled the water and beaches of nearby Lake Huron. Similar leaks have taken place in Chatham and Hay Bay.
Negative Impact on Family Farms
Corporate owners of intensive hog farms claim that their business is agriculture, while in fact it is an industry. The facilities are often owned by large corporations whose shareholders live far away from these sites and do not care about the communities where these factories are located.
They seek to establish themselves in agricultural zones, where they pollute as large industries do. The bottom line is what counts. This affects the perception of farmers by the general public who may see them as careless polluters as well. Industrial hog farms take advantage of laws and measures that have been adopted to assist farmers. More and more farmers are opposed to large intensive livestock operations. Yes to farms, no to abusers!
Negative Impact on Local Business and Tourism
Biological farms, outdoors sports and activities, walking trails, visits to natural sites, fresh-air dining, and other small-scale activities and family businesses are seriously threatened by odours and the destruction of the environment.
Risk of Concentration of Hog Industry in the Area
Quebec has a moratorium that blocks all new facilities from building in that province. Many Ontario municipalities and townships have passed by-laws on nutrient management and/or the number of animal units allowed per acre. This provides some protection from invasion by an excessive industry without adequate controls.
Towns and townships in Eastern Ontario are now being scouted by large hog industry promoters (many of whom are coming from Quebec). They see an opportunity to establish themselves in our community more easily and at a lower cost. Two things are attracting the promoters to Eastern Ontario: (1) lack of adequate environmental regulatory protection and (2) closeness to Quebec, where pigs would be taken for slaughter and processing (which, by the way, is subsidized in Quebec). Our township has an open door, right now. This is a magnet for industrial hog industry promoters.
I ask that you please do something to stop this potentially devastating impact on the environment. These areas are important to the Ottawa community for recreation and tourism. Once these farms take hold, they will devastate the local economy by diminishing tourism and polluting the whole area with a dangerous risk of water contamination.
As a member of the voting public, I will seriously consider election promises that include a commitment to preserving the environment.
Yours Truly,
Signed____________________________
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