[Akroncooperative-news] Akronites, protect our waterways from unchecked agribusiness! urgently call the state senate to OPPOSE HB363!

[Lawrence Parker]

Lawrence A. Parker
Managing Director
The Akron Cooperative
234-525-0543
http://www.akroncooperative.com/

Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Jeremy Koosed ajkoosed at gmail.com

Real quick! make a call for sanity in Ohio!
This is urgent (today!, monday!) so don't worry if your talking points are brief.  The Dept of agriculture should not be enforcing the Clean water act and issuing pollution permits. HB363 would transfer authority TO ENFORCE THE CLEAN WATER ACT from the OH EPA to the OH dept of Ag, Allowing the fox to guard the hen house. Protecting the environment is not stated in the mission of the dept Of Ag, nor should we impose such a conflict of interest on any bureaucracy by making them regulate the same farms they are so busy promoting. 
Your help is needed by calling in to your senator and expressing your opposition to HB363.
Take your pick
Kevin Coughlin (R) 
Senator 
Senate Building 
1 Capitol Square, 2nd Floor  
Columbus, OH 43215  
 
Phone: (614) 466-4823 
Email: SD27 at senate.state.oh.us
District 28
Tom Sawyer (D) 
Senator 
Senate Building 
1 Capitol Square, Ground Floor  
Columbus, OH 43215  
 
Phone: (614) 466-7041 
Email: SD28 at maild.sen.state.oh.us 


And...listed below the committee are a myriad of talking points...take your pick! Also attached is the Environmental Integrity Project report, "Giving Away the Farm", which is a great resource on why not to transfer NPDES to the ODA. Senators will be in caucus on Tuesday so call today!!! 
 
And last, but not least, is the following link to the Fiscal Note and Local Impact Statement regarding HB363 from the Ohio Legislative Service Committee.

http://www.lbo.state.oh.us/fiscal/fiscalnotes/128ga/pdfs/HB0363IN.pdf
 

TALKING POINTS


Conflict of interest
 
No expertise or experience
  
Environmental protection absent from the mission
  
Ohio’s nutrient contributions to Lake Erie and the Gulf of Mexico are on the rise, after years of decline.  We should be tightening controls, not loosening them.
  
·         The ODA has systematically revised and rescinded many of LEPP regs intended to protect our aquifers & floodplains for no apparent reason except to approve permits which didn’t comply with the original, scientifically-based, rules.  When asked, the ODA admitted they have “no records of scientific studies” to support these changes.
 
·         The ODA does NOT check or require any documentation for soil testing data, manure analysis data, yield data or manure application fields in the Manure Management Plans.  Plus, they’ve approved permits with phosphorus levels that are egregiously higher than agronomic rates; manure analysis reduced by half with no documentation; and yields that are more than 50% higher than county/state averages.
 
·         ODA Program rated WORST of 10 top hog-producing states by U of Nebraska.
 
·         Dismal enforcement record – see EIP (Giving Away the Farm) Report.
 
·         Little expertise or staff to handle the NPDES permits.






-- 
Best Wishes,
Jeremy


      
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.aktivix.org/pipermail/akroncooperative-news/attachments/20091207/5a209aa8/attachment-0001.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: EIP_Ohio_rpt_fnl.npdes.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 1015793 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <https://lists.aktivix.org/pipermail/akroncooperative-news/attachments/20091207/5a209aa8/attachment-0001.pdf>