Air and Water Quality are the 1,000 lb. Economic Gorillas

In Our Opinion, Counties Need More Controls The Joplin Globe, Friday April 20, 2007 came out and said it,
1. State legislators should do whatever they can to give counties greater control over where large livestock and fowl operations can locate.
2. Counties should have the power to be restrictive if CAFOs threaten the quality of water, air and, under many circumstances, rural lifestyle.
3. All counties should have health ordinances on their books to protect their constituencies.
4. Many farmers and rural residents see factory farms as potential spoilers of water and air quality and of quality of life.
5. Air and water quality promise to be the 1,000-pound economic gorillas of the future.
6. The Joplin region needs a large water impoundment to guarantee enough water for this growing area. What it doesn’t need are gagging odors permeating the air and animal wastes jeopardizing rivers and creeks. Only local control can guarantee that.

Let's get behind The Joplin Globe's bold challenge. The Jasper County commissioners have expressed little interest in developing local CAFO rules. In a related article, The Joplin Globe quotes Commissioner Honey as saying that the county does not have the expertise or the money for workers to enforce CAFO rules, which would have to be adopted as part of a health ordinance because the county does not have zoning and planning. Hello Jasper County Commissioners Jim Honey, Darieus Adams and John Bartosh. Maybe it is time to start talking about County Zoning and County Health Ordinances. Japer County needs zoning and health ordinances. This issue needs to be moved up on the priority list. This time let's be proactive, before the next CAFO or landfill files for an application. How many more Jasper County streams have to be declared unfit and dangerous before we take the initiative to take control?