According to the Pantagraph, local residents of the western Minnesota town of Hendricks have been fighting for more than two years to prevent a dairy farm from opening just across the border in South Dakota.
Locals fear the manure lagoons from the large-scale dairy farm will seep into the streams that feed into Lake Hendricks, a precious body of water residents worked hard to clean after years of pollution. “The lake, which straddles the state line, was once so choked with algae that fishing lures wouldn’t sink, the article states.
Ignoring pleas from Hendricks, South Dakota officials have granted a permit for the 4,000-cow feedlot. This is the second time they’ve done so; after the first time, residents filed a lawsuit. With legal bills soaring, some are afraid this may be the end of the fight. Many others vow to continue fighting.
Tom Landmark, secretary for a local lake improvement association, said:
If there’s a major spill, it’s a South Dakota problem for one hour and it’s a Minnesota problem for a long period of time.
Nitrogen from animal waste on factory farms fuels harmful seasonal algal blooms, red tides, and dead zones, killing aquatic plants and animals.
This isn’t the first time small-town residents have taken on a factory farm. Earlier this year, the people of Cecil County, Maryland, protested a proposed chicken farm. They feared lower property values, health and environmental issues, and harm to the water supply.
Residents are smart to be concerned. Factory farms produce a lot of waste that often runs off into local waterways and can pollute an entire community’s water supply, causing people to get very sick. In fact, animal excrement and other agricultural runoff from large-scale farms have polluted nearly one-third of rivers in the U.S.
As if the environmental impacts weren’t terrible enough, animals on factory farms suffer immensely in filthy conditions, often facing extreme abuse.
Want to withdraw your support from cruel factory farms and protect our beautiful waterways? Visit ChooseVeg.com for meal ideas, recipes, and more.
