This letter was sent to editor of the Cape Charles Mirror:
I am writing you because the Eastern Shore of Virginia is in trouble and no one is paying attention. Our community is being assaulted by hundreds of new poultry houses growing millions of birds and newspapers are just ignoring it. Our waters are our lifeblood and they have no protection from these factory farms.
Things are so bad they are trying to arrest the only person talking about these issues. I heard that the young man who is the Shorekeeper was arrested and his wife was brought to tears in a restaurant by poultry farmers yelling at them. She is a teacher at my child’s school and is a lovely woman. These poor people are being attacked for protecting our home and the bay. Someone needs to tell people about the disaster that is happening out here. I have contacted the Virginian pilot and they ignored us when we told them these houses were built next to our horses. What’s happening is not right and we are begging someone to tell the story.
When we read this letter, we immediately contacted Jay C. Ford, the Executive Director of the aforementioned Shorekeeper to validate this account.
According to Mr. Ford, the account is true, but with many moving parts. Ford told the Mirror that he was walking along a creek with an Accomack property owner, following it along to the source of contamination that had been detected. As they traced the path, they unknowingly crossed onto property owned by Tyson. Ford was later served a warrant for trespassing, and was warned not to enter the property in the future.
Sources tell the Mirror that there were also efforts to have Ford arrested, and that calls were made to the Virginia Eastern Shorekeeper Board asking that he be removed from his post as Executive Director. Later that week, Ford and his wife were accosted in an Onancock restaurant by poultry farmers that claimed he was attempting to destroy their livelihood.
These encounters, while disturbing, also highlight the fact that Ford and Eastern Shorekeeper’s success in holding Tyson accountable for its clean water violations has hit a nerve with poultry industry. This may also be a serious counter-volley in what could be the Eastern Shore’s version of the ‘Chicken Wars’.
Last July, Shorekeeper contacted the state about a relatively lax penalty of $16,000 for violations that were intentional (the state also failed to fine them for all violations), and the plan to remedy the issues failed to protect Eastern Shore waters from future pollution.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, agriculture is the probable cause of polluting more than 145,000 miles of rivers and streams, along with over 1 million acres of lakes, including Eastern Shore coastal waters. Tyson Foods, Inc. is one of the world’s largest producers of meat and poultry, and is a leader in chicken production. Tyson has also been at the top of the list of serial polluters:
-In January 2015, in a settlement with the Attorney General of Missouri, Tyson agreed to pay a fine of $540,000, consisting of natural resource damages, civil penalties, and environmental improvements relating to the Monett, MO facility wastewater discharge incident.
-In May 2014, Missouri attorney general filed a civil lawsuit after incident where feed supplement discharged from Tyson plant in Monett, MO; Criminal investigation launched by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with risk of debarment from Government Contracts.
-In September 2013, United States Department of Justice (DOJ) alleged that one of company’s subsidiaries did not comply with the Clean Water Act with respect to a spill that occurred in North Carolina in January 2010. Settled the allegations and underlying claims for $305,000.
-In April 2013, the company paid $3.95 million and settled a case with the EPA and DOJ after releasing anhydrous ammonia at facilities in Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, and Nebraska.
-In 2012, Arkansas rice growers filed suit alleging that 3-Nitro, linked to high arsenic levels, was present in chicken litter.
-In 2009, NE Fecal Coliform and nitrates enter Missouri River, violating a permit $2 million civil penalty and $4.1 million fine 2003 20 felony counts for MO Untreated waste into tributary of Lamine River $7.5 million fine to EPA and DOJ.
-In 2001, $7.3 million fine for pollution of drinking water in Tulsa, Ok.
Shorekeeper later wrote to the Department of Environmental Quality about both the penalty and action plan proposed for Tyson. Shorekeeper noted that that a fine of $16,000 did not meet the intent of the Clean Water Act to serve as a deterrent. Given the record, the company appears ready to absorb the cost of fines as part of doing business (this may be cheaper than actually implementing clean water measures).
(DEQ) later notified Shorekeeper that after review, they decided to reassess the fine at $26,000 noting that Tyson was culpable for their actions. DEQ raised Tysons official culpability from “serious” to “high” considering that the violations were foreseeable, and precautions to prevent the violations were not taken. They also required Tyson to rewrite their compliance action plan.
Since the DEQ judgement, there apparently has been little effort made by Tyson in implementing the clean water compliance plan. Shorekeeper has continued to stay engaged, hoping to finally hold Tyson and the poultry industry to the clean water standards that are vital to lower Eastern Shore. What may have once been considered concerned citizen activism, is quietly being redefined in antagonistic terms.
Despite where you fall on the issue of factory farming and poultry processing, companies such as Tyson and Purdue have become ingrained partners with the Eastern Shore of Virginia. Accomack and to a smaller extent Northampton have entered into a bargain with these entities–the stakes are high for rural communities like ours:
The social identities of rural places become susceptible to redefinition as new social groups begin to occupy space once occupied by others. Changes in patterns of land development, use and habitation…serve to alter the socially constructed meaning of those spaces, rewriting the rules of what kinds of people, activities, and social relationships “belong.” – “Chicken wars”, water fights, and other contested ecologies along the rural-urban interface in California’s Sierra Nevada foothills” by Colleen C. Hiner, Texas State University, USA
As has been documented, most recently in Northampton’s Comprehensive Plan Action Committee (CPAC) report, the Shore population is getting older and smaller. The implications of large industrial poultry operations are not just environmental, but also social. As these operations take up a larger and larger geographic footprint, how will that change the social, cultural and environmental landscape for the rest of the Shore?
While it is important for groups like Eastern Virginia Shorekeeper, as well as individuals to remain engaged when it comes to protecting our coastal waters, it is also important for the poultry industry to recognize that as community partners, is not all about providing revenue and jobs (even as important as this is). The industry needs to understand that clean water is more critical here than almost anywhere on the East Coast. While the poultry industry may be able absorb the fines associated with polluting our creeks and streams, the aquaculture and tourism industries do not have the same luxury when it comes to absorbing losses.
About the Author
Tysons and Purdue have been paying pittance fines to avoid implementing any type of clean water measures and have been polluting the Shore for decades. This is nothing new. And after decades of doing this I would assume nothing will change. The population of the Eastern shore is getting older and smaller because us older ones made sure our children escaped. I made sure mine did. They will never come back here to live. The Eastern Shore has nothing to offer today’s young people.
Phone autocorrected the Perdue spelling to Purdue.
A.sad.thank-you.for.this.excellent,disheartening.article…..It’s.so.sad.to.watch.the.rapid.wilful.destruction.of.the.
beautiful.topography.of.our.counties..I.am.too.disheartened.to.write.further.
Several years ago,a fertilizer co wanted to put up business on this Eastern Shore, and with some Very Bad background from other states Our Board of Supervisors chose to allow this co to build their plant here. I am so disheartened over these chicken houses and the smell and what they are doing to our water system. When are people going to see the mess these places are doing to our health and welfare?
You have to ask yourself the question. Are the Board of Supervisors being paid off? And the reason for asking that question can be for only two reasons. Either the folks on the Board of Supervisors are so stupid that they have no idea the difference between a carcinogen compound and a chicken foot. Or, somebody, somewhere are taking these folks in a closed room and spelling out the “Deal” to them one by one. They (Big Chicken Industry-CFOA Industrialist) are either “lining pockets” or “threatening situations” to the fine, intelligent, well intended folks whom YOU elected and TRUSTED to have your best interest at heart.
If you do some research (it’s there at your fingertips, on Google) on Somerset County Maryland and other Delmarva communities that have been saturated with these CAFO houses, you’ll find it is as dangerous as those articles state. As this article states, both counties have entered into a “partnership” with Big Chicken Industry and that likely cannot be undone. Nonetheless, the very ecology of the Eastern Shore is reliant upon, smart, slow and well planned and well thought out strategies for present growth to match profitability for Big Chicken Industry. A room full of yes men to Tyson and Perdue spells disaster. Pure and simple. Cancer, asthma, weakened immune systems and sick children are in your future if this situation is not closely monitored and properly guided. The promise of future jobs (do YOU want to stand on that cutting line?) are not good reasons to trash the waterways and foul the air. Because, really folks, that’s what they are doing up north of you at this very moment. Why do you think they want to / have to move south? The clock is ticking.
You are all getting out of your comfort zone. The fact that you spelled Perdue wrong is a good example of your ignorance. All the new chicken houses will be balanced out by old house being put out of production. There are no new companies or processing plants. We may not like the looks of these new farms, but let’s think before we act like we know what we’re talking about. I own a “factory farm” . It’s the only factory I know of with one employee. I live 300 feet away. Rarely do we smell anything. My biggest complaint are the flys. If you want to make changes to the way we provide food to ourselves, that is fine. Nobody has to be the evil guy. Also, ask a farmer before you start writing your opinions. Your information is often just plain inaccurate.
The plural of fly (noun) is “flies.”
And we should not use the plural “jobs” as an
Argument justifying pumping down our sole source aquifer, but should correctly cite ” a job” to support that assault.
Mr.Morey,you’re.calling.what.you.do.”farming”?I.grew.up.on.a.real.farm.in.Somerset.County,Md.(which.is.why.I.live.in.Accomack)….I.know.farming,Mr.Morey,and.you’re.no.farmer.
Then why don’t you have the ventilation pointed at your house, hmmm?
The primary current threat has been EXPANSION. Why should it be fostered when there are so many other environmentally sensitive growth and improvement opportunities for the ES, while there are so many issues for both CAFO and processing plants? It certainly does seem like County Supervisors are being “paid off,” which can occur in many subtle forms. Or there sure seems to be lack of vision or imagination for what should have been the most wondrous stretch of the east coast of the US.
Thank God all the ducks, Canada Geese, Crows, bluebirds, pheasant, squirrels, rabbits etc…. have learned to flush after themselves.
Surely you are not comparing Mother Nature to factory farming.
Comfort zone is a good place to start. Did anyone ask the kids of Mary Nottingham Smith middle school what their comfort level was when the wind was blowing from the west? Has anyone asked the watermen what their comfort level was when Hunting Creek was closed till further notice? Anyone ask the comfort level of travelers on The Lankford driving behind chicken hauling trucks? Has anyone asked the comfort level on folks in middle and upper Accomack County how many times now have they had to re-dig the family well? Anybody asked the comfort level of parents with asthmatic kids? Anybody bother to ask the kids, about, you know…their comfort level? How folks with cancer (which just for informational purposes – rates as the highest in the state (Northampton County – Leukemia Cancers).
You want to accuse folks of being out of their comfort zone. Maybe you should ask what is making them uncomfortable. And Andrew, believe me when I tell you this, farmers have been sold a bill of goods from the good folks at Monsanto and other like-minded Agri-business corporations on chemicals and factory farming. It doesn’t work. It can be maintained only by producing and delivering more and more substantiate poisons and fertilizers to the same fields and more growth feed to livestock. And that is making us sick. It is making us obese and compromising our immune systems. You will find (or future generations will) that in the past, all of the fertilizers, chemical insect retardant and genetically modified plants you and your farmer friends have been putting into the ground are nothing more than a ticking time bomb. Sure, you’ve fed millions. Sure, you’ve maintained a business model of efficiency and profitable growth. But, at what costs? When the aquifer is fully tainted and the bay only produces algae, then what? I guess then we can re-assess everyone’s “Comfort Zones.”
Nope, grew up next to a factory chicken farm. Hated it.
BUT if you are gong to have an economy, and don’t want to expand(resistance to the master plan that would develop the 13 corridor, the natural spot for expansion) well, ya gotta have something.
And what about all that there natural poop? What’s up with that?
Or the rotting old junkers in yards leaking oil? Or the oil tanks that sit and rot and spill in the abandoned homes?
How many times a day is someone hosing off their boat and all that fuel and grease and crap is washed off into the ground?
Besides, it seems to me that a one for one process, whereby an older less efficient farm is taken off line and a newly improved, more efficient and CLEANER one is put up? Well, common sense says…………ehh, no one wants to hear common sense……
Mr.Kuzma.,
Do,you,really.think.that.replacing.a.smaller.poultry.house.with.a.larger.one.that.will.push.out.more.
chickens.and.use.more.ground.water.than.the.one.replaced.is.a..”one.for.one.exchange?….And.just.
because.half.the.county.is.a.trash.pit.doesn’t.justify.converting.the.other.half.to.a.public.toilet.
No, Mr. Green but I do believe that Americans; as long as we are not being prodded into actions against self interest by special interest groups and lawyers with an eye towards self enrichment, can overcome obstacles and find a way to get the job done.
Water usage can be minimized through computer controls-it is being done. The economy of scale can allow for motorized waste removal that is not economically feasible on a smaller scale. Etc…………..
I believe in cooperation, not litigation.
That’s all.
Mr.Kuzma,your.optimism.is.refreshing–none.of.the.rest.of.us.is.quite.so.sanguine;however,nobody.else(except.you)in.this.series..of.statements.raised.the.subject.of.civil.litigation.
I appreciate the civil discourse, Mr. Green.
Sorry for the double post:
In regards to the litigation comment, I was using it in a more loose manner…….in opposing every option, the issues are being “litigated” instead of debated.