Reader concerned about environmental impact of LB1375

Dear Editor: Gov. Pillen is pushing legislative bill 1375 which must be opposed. It will take regulatory power away from locally elected County Supervisors.

Many consider this a conflict of interest as it would allow thegovernor to expand his already extensive hog operations involving industrial sizedConfined Animal Feeding Operations ( CAFOs ).

Besides the possibility of our governor expanding his own operations, there is a real possibility of Iowa CAFO owners receiving a green light to expand into Nebraska. Municipalities across Iowa have run out of water purificationoptions due to the density of polluting CAFOs there. Therefore, the State of Iowa has begun to limit permits. So the logical place for expansion-minded Iowa operators to spread their CAFO antibiotic resistant animal diseases and pollution next isNebraska.

To further illustrate the dire well water nitrate crisis to our East, look no further than the massive well developments in the Missouri River bottom between Vermillion and Newcastle. These wells are piping groundwater ahundred miles to Northwest Iowa, Southwest Minnesota and Sioux Falls, S.D. It’s all because people and politicians in that higher rainfall area to the east have not effectively dealt with nitrate runoff in their own backyards.

Gov. Pillen’s 1375 bill plan suits opportunistic Iowa polluters just fine. Where will we get future clean water if they and our governor get their way? Not from the arid, even lower rainfall areas to our west with reservoirs gathering silt and certainly not from our already polluted neighboring states to the east.

We must contact our Senators immediately to defeat LB1375 or large CAFOs will, in my opinion, eventually fill Nebraska to the point where our air and water quality will degrade to match Iowa’s sorry situation. Then our children and grandchildren may well ask....... How did we let this happen ?

— Ken Lindberg Newcastle