Iowa’s factory farms smell toxic

My family took a vacation in Iowa. The rolling hills and views were stupendous, the air was toxic. We had to keep car windows rolled up. When I wanted to roll down the windows my kids would beg “No! Please mom!” We tried, but then factory farm buildings would be in the distance, or we would smell factory farm stench without ever seeing them, my kids would scream, “Roll up the windows, hurry, mom!”

What should have been an enjoyable vacation turned into a look-out for factory farm buildings, that’s what my sons will remember most.
Now I hear the Iowa DNR is considering approving a construction permit to build Iowa’s largest cattle factory farm in Scott County. Great goodness what is DNR Director Rich Leopold thinking? He knows how devastating factory farms are to the water and land.

Iowa DNR’s mission is to protect water and land. Nothing supersedes this mandate! Not the promise of jobs or green-washing or cheaper food.

If built, this 9,500-head cattle factory farm will consume over 200,000 gallons of water a day and produce over 11 million gallons of toxic manure a year. With over 700 manure spills and a growing list of impaired waterways in Iowa, it’s too dangerous to allow construction of a giant cattle factory farm in the already impaired Mud Creek, Wapsipinicon and Mississippi River watersheds. I hope to vacation in Iowa again with the windows down. I hope the Iowa DNR will deny this cattle factory farm a construction permit.

Rachel Griffiths
Letter to the editor
Quad City Times