Wednesday, December 22, 2004
Phosphorous Loading in Lakes Caused By Big Ag
Letter to Auburn Citizen
Oct 21, 2004
The failure of The Citizen’s Sunday story on phosphorus loading in the lakes is that the usual suspects point to all the wrong reasons for the increase.
Telling residents that lawn waste and pet droppings are responsible is as disingenuous as any public statement since the Cayuga County Health Department’s attempt to blame e.coli in Ledyard drinking water on dead snakes.
The source of the phosphorus is the millions upon millions of pounds of cow manure spread all over the southern watersheds by ambitious dairy farmers who operate on the edge of the law and in defiance of normal “good neighbor� principles.
Drive up Lane Road in East Genoa and take a look and whiff. Or try Mahaney Road near the Tompkins County line. Cruise the ridge on Indian Field Road. Sniff the air. Take the fall foul air tour. The unpleasant odor you inhale is not the stink of normal farming, but milk factories run out of control, producing enormous amounts of cow manure that is slathered on the hillsides that drain into the lakes’ tributaries. Millions upon millions of gallons of cow manure are spread on crop land surrounding these farms. Guess what? Phosphorus is a prime pollutant in that waste.
The apologists for this environmental nightmare will tell you that everything is being done according to law. Once you get a whiff or a look, you might want to challenge that law.
How absurd to blame yard waste and pet droppings on the increase of phosphorus loading in the lakes. The watershed groups, who are accountable to no one, and Cornell, in particular, need to stop covering up for Big Ag’s sloppy ways and good farmers ought to stop apologizing for bad ones. Pets, indeed!