Regarding an article you published on June 25th, the Director of the Ohio Department of Agriculture claimed that H2Ohio was “a comprehensive plan designed to address complex issues affecting Lake Erie”. While there may be some good programs under H2Ohio that could make a small difference in reducing the nutrient pollution fueling toxic algal blooms, I believe there is one program that is actually exacerbating this pollution problem. The Manure Incorporation Program actually “incentivizes” landowners by paying them $60 of taxpayer money per acre to apply manure from privately-owned animal factory farms to their fields.
State officials like the ODA Director like to boast that Governor DeWine’s H2Ohio program (which was allotted $270 million more taxpayer money this year) will reduce the phosphorus that is fueling the algal blooms thru voluntary management practices – but it offers no penalties for noncompliance.
In fact, there is no accountability for H2Ohio measures because our legislators added statutes requiring that H2Ohio records are not subject to disclosure. Thus, there is no transparency for how millions of dollars of taxpayer money is being utilized, and thus I have to wonder why H2Ohio recipients are being hidden from public scrutiny?
One of Ohio’s foremost Lake Erie researchers, retired OSU Stone Lab Director Jeff Reutter, stated that H2Ohio is basically just “waste disposal” and he has no hope for these voluntary approaches. He’s also concerned that the animal feeding operations (factory farms) are resulting in an increase of manure “at a worrying scale.”
It seems our government’s primary goal is not to find a way to clean up Lake Erie, but rather, to find yet another way to allow factory farms to continue using Lake Erie as a free toilet.
Call your State legislators’ offices and tell them you don’t want your tax money to pay for this irrational scheme.
Vickie Askins
Cygnet
