Foster County Planning & Zoning Board

~Citizens against the Mega-Dairy LOCATION ~

Join Us, and Prevent the STINK!

NOTICE:  Our concerned citizens meeting took place at the Armory in Carrington on February 12, 2008,  with approximately 40 people attending.  The main concerns addressed were: the location of the Mega-dairy and its closeness to Carrington and the Carrington aquifer... the possibility of it contaminating our ground water; the fact that we need stricter county regulations regarding large CAFO's (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations such as this Mega-dairy) that want to come to our area; that much of the planning for this proposed Mega-dairy in Carrington was done by some community leaders without notifying the general public. 

Note:  The following paragraph is an excerpt from the Canadians' "Application for Approval of Livestock Waste System" to the North Dakota Department of Health, Division of Water Quality in Bismarck - form SFN 8296 (6/96) - which was signed by them and "Assisted by Thomas Erdmann."   It appears that the Canadians have been working on their project with the help of Mayor Frye, Tom Erdmann and others.  Our question is...  Why did it take so long for our local "committee" to tell the community about their plans for locating a MEGA-dairy so close to town?

Excerpt from Letter from Mega-Dairy Applicants to the

Foster County Livestock Planning and Zoning Committee

Click here to print out a copy of the petition.

Read about a recent manure spill from a mega-dairy lagoon in Maryland.  Do we want to take a chance that something like this could happen to Carrington?

Manure spill could mean months of temporary water supply
Originally published

January 30, 2008
By Gina Gallucci - Frederick News-Post Staff - Maryland

WALKERSVILLE -- For town residents who remember the 1999 sewage spill that forced them to use a makeshift water supply for five months, this could be worse. Test results this week from untreated water show the levels of bacteria and E. coli are greater than in 1999, said Mike Marschner, director of the county's Division of Utilities and Solid Waste Management.

The contamination is the result of a manure lagoon pipe that burst last week, said town commissioner Chad Weddle. The burst actually created two spills, one on Jan. 22 and a second Friday night into Saturday morning.

This spill took about four days to infiltrate the town's water supply, compared to 1999 when it took nine days, Marschner said.

These findings were released during a press conference Tuesday afternoon at Town Hall. The meeting room was packed with media, town and county officials and concerned residents.

More...

Thursday, Jan. 31, 2008
Farmer apologizes for massive manure spill

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"One fear is that what happened in Walkerton, Canada, could happen in our community. In the small Ontario town, which is the site of several dairy farms, seven people died and 2,300 became ill  ...  after drinking water polluted with E. coli, a bacteria contained in cow manure. Cow manure washed into a nearby well after a heavy rain, causing the health crisis, says Peter Rehak, spokesperson for the Walkerton Inquiry, a public commission established to investigate the tragedy."

-Metro Times - Detroit-