Your recent article “The Known & the Unknown: Inside Algal Bloom Science” explained many causes of the Harmful Algal Blooms that plague Lake Erie. Experts at a recent University of Toledo conference explained that temperature and a “high load of the nutrients that algal blooms thrive on” result in toxins in the HABs that can cause health risks.
Health concerns were discussed about cyanotoxins becoming airborne and worsening conditions like asthma or pneumonia and possibly even causing diseases like ALS, Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s Disease.
Sam Mullins, chief of livestock permitting at the Ohio Department of Agriculture, spoke about the management of agricultural nutrients/manure as part of the state’s permitting process for large, concentrated animal feeding facilities also known as factory “farms.” He claimed that “manure management is a significant aspect in issuing an ODA permit.”
Facts are stubborn things … how can manure management be a “significant” aspect since many, if not most, ODA Manure Management Plans consist of only one sentence – all manure will be distributed to others “not under the control of the CAFO owner.” No soil tests, no map of the manure application fields and no five-year plan for utilizing the nutrients in the manure. How could they possibly know whether a field needs more nutrients/manure, without soil tests?
An OSU specialist stated that the goal is “to get the right nutrient to the right place, at the right time, and in the right amount.” How could that goal possibly be attained if there are no agronomic plans for utilizing the nutrients in the massive amounts of untreated manure from millions of confined animals in the western Lake Erie basin?
The State’s answer is the H2Ohio initiative which has already spent $645 million on projects, some of which would supposedly reduce nutrients going into Lake Erie. Unfortunately, a big share of this money is supporting Big Ag by incentivizing taxpayer-funded waste disposal for privately-owned animal factory “farms.”
Until Ohio legislators, who are mostly beholden to Big Ag, force accountability for the millions of tons and mega gallons of factory “farm” animal waste being overapplied in the western Lake Erie basin, Lake Erie will continue to be used as a toilet, and taxpayers will continue to be forced to pay for the cleanup.
Vickie Askins
Cygnet
