Cape Charles Mirror Report – Wayne Creed
At Monday’s Northampton Board of Supervisor’s work session, Bill Satterfield of the Delmarva Poultry Association was on hand to answer any questions the board may have had relative to how the industry operates on the Eastern Shore. Melissa Kellam presented a rundown of the current ordinance, which importantly noted that ammonia scrubbers are currently required to capture odors. Consensus language in the proposed zoning maintaing or enhancing setbacks as well as ammonia scrubbers, would make it improbable that intensive poultry farming could be viable in the county.
When asked about ammonia scrubbers, Satterfield replied, “I don’t know of any commercial chicken houses in America that grow broilers that have ammonia scrubbers. The are used in Europe but not in America because they are terribly expensive to install and operate.”
According to the Poultry group, using the current buffers program to deal with air quality and prevent the movement of dust smells and ammonia feathers, was the superior method for dealing with odor issues from chicken houses for neighboring properties. Buffers deal with air emission, and trees take up nutrients in soil, “Who’s against trees, everyone loves trees? With buffers we do not feel there is a need for additional mechanical scrubbers. An expense that would not be well accepted,” Satterfield said.
Administrator Nunez asked, “How are our setbacks viewed from an industry perspective compared to other localities? What is the reaction of other localities?”
Satterfield responded, “The only one I understand that is interested in growing chickens in Northampton is Tyson.”
A Tyson representative added, “In comparing the Shore to the rest of Delmarva, it is far more stringent and virtually impossible to build in Northampton County, and no place else is even close; our buffers, our setbacks are more stringent than what is required by Accomack. We try to be a good neighbor to exceed the local standards, but in Northampton it is impossible; ammonia scrubbers would be a deal breaker. You cannot cash flow this business with that equipment. Financially it is unfavorable for us to be further south than Exmore, it is too expensive to haul feed this far south.”
Supervisor Hogg questioned Satterfield about the process of disposing birds, in case of an outbreak of Avian flu, “If you had to euthanize one whole house of chickens, how is the current practice working?”
“We will compost them in the house, and will not move the carcasses until they are fully composted.”
Hogg followed, “Once they decompose, how many cubic yards are you dealing with? You foam them?”
“If we find avian flu, we euthanize with 24 hours, once we have foamed them, we build a row pile that needs to reach 115 degrees in fifteen days, then the pile is turned and it must reach 131 degrees in fifteen days, this is part of USDA regulations which dictate this. If this 30 day cycle is done correctly, there is no more carcass. At that point it can be removed from the house and put in the litter shed. Then it is to be cleaned and disinfected and checked by USDA to be sure the infection is removed. Until it is cleaned the zone cannot be repopulated.”
After the presentation by Delmarva Poultry Association, the board attempted to find consensus over setbacks. As a note, in the current ordinance, if ammonia scrubbers are used, it can reduce setback limitations.
“The operation we are looking at today is a different operation, I mean, its not like the day, where a farmer might put one or two small houses out back. What difference does it make if it is in a town or village, odor is odor,” said Hogg.
“You are proposing 1000 feet from a residential dwelling,” said Nunez . “Chairman Hubbard goes from 400 to 500. Mr. Hogg is recomending 1000 for all residential parcels. That is one setback of 1000 feet from a residential dwelling regardless of zoning designation. No property line setbacks. And retaining 2000 feet from tidal waters.”
Supervisor LeMond said, “It seems extreme to me. Is it the point of this board to eliminate the possibility of a chicken house in this county?”
Hogg responded, “I don’t think you can eliminate them.”
LeMond said, “Yes you can, you can make the setbacks so darn large it would eliminate any possibility of a chicken house. Am I correct on that Mr. Jones?”
County attorney Jones noted, “I’m looking at the statute, No county should enact ordinances that would unreasonably restrict or regulate farm operations in an agricultural district unless such restrictions bear a relationship to the health safety and general welfare of the public. That is the criteria.”
LeMond continued, “We’ve looked at the 1000 feet, let me back up. These have been in place since 2009, and there is not a chicken house in Northampton County, we looked at 1000 feet and there are only two parcels. We keep playing around with the setbacks, is it to eliminate chicken houses? Period, by the use of setbacks.”
Hogg said, “Ammonia scrubbers would take care of that.”
LeMond continued, “Agriculture is part of our heritage. Chicken houses, now I don’t want a thousand chicken houses, but to make it so darn bad that nobody, that a farmer may need four chicken houses to survive, or sell the farm and move. I guess I’m asking, is the point of this board to be working to eliminate chicken houses altogether.”
Hogg asked, “Is it a good fit for the community? That is one of the questions. For farming, we don’t raise palm trees here. Is this the right place to put chicken houses. Because of the industries we’ve already got going, does that take precedent over adding something else? Do we want to sacrifice what we have for potentially the chicken industry.”
LeMond responded, “Mr. Hogg, I am not a proponent of chicken houses, I will say that right now. We keep arguing about setbacks, if this board wants to eliminate them, hell let’s make the setback 1500 feet, 2000 feet, a mile, we keep going back and forth and we’re not getting anywhere.”
Hogg said, “As you say, maybe we should set the regulation where it may be more difficult to do. If the technology catches up to us, maybe that is the time to reconsider.”
Hubbard added, “What we have now has been very effective, but we can maybe protect ourselves even more.”
Supervisor Bennett offered concerns for local farmers, “Some farmers have expressed interest in the possibility, but if we made it so rough on them, farmers won’t have the opportunity, in the end, agriculture is going to be moved out. Tyson and Purdue, many folks have been helped, and benefitted from it. They have built a lot of homes here, and sent a lot of kids to college. It is what it is, but it has been productive. Without them it wouldn’t be, what has helped Northampton grow.”
Hogg said, “We are going to make it where it is more safe to the individual, if ammonia scrubbers is the technology is what will do it. We should be negative towards poultry at this time.”
“Ms Nunez, are we saying that if our farmers want to move forward on this, are we saying we are going to put the burden of these ammonia scrubbers on them?” asked Bennett.
Nunez answered,“Yes. We have heard from the industry that ammonia scrubbers are not used anywhere in the United States, and that the requirement of them would be a financial detriment. The setbacks may also disqualify them.”
Consensus was to increase setbacks from 400 to 500 feet for residential dwellings, adjust vegetated buffers, and importantly, keep the requirement that ammonia scrubbers must be used for intensive farming operations.
Dave Fauber appointed to Planning Commission
Cape Charles Public Works director Dave Fauber was elected to the county Planning Commission. Mr. Fauber has served the town for several years now, and has developed a reputation for quiet and thorough problem solving, as well as being a fair and amiable team supervisor. The Board interviewed Mr. Fauber during a closed session, and voted unanimously in favor of the appointment.
There is something very wrong with any group of people that wish to eat chicken, each week, but are unwilling to support the industry that provides the chickens.
Okay Mr. Bell, I’ll bite. (Pun intended) Actually, there is something wrong with the way we are going about the industrialization of farming today. The massive amounts of chemicals along with bio-engineered food crops ingested by the public today should give you pause to think. Yes, I love a good piece of chicken just like everyone else. I also enjoy a cool glass of clear, untainted water. Is it too much to ask that those who have charge over the land, the water, the sky do their best to ensure the health and welfare to it’s the citizens? Those who live by the water, on that land and breathe that sky? We have given them the public trust and as dutiful politicians, they would be remiss to just let industrial farming grow unabated on such a fragile and delicate eco-system such is the lower Eastern Shore. I, for one, am thankful for Supervisor Granville Hogg and county administrator Katherine Nunez, whom seem to be asking the important questions and stating proper precautions. Because as you well know, Mr. Bell, once that hen house door has opened and the fox has entered; there is no turning back. You have a great day and stay dry!
You side stepped my comment like Obama and proceeded to confess your agenda. What are your thoughts on a group of people who eat chicken 2 or 3 times a week but are unwilling to support the industry that provides the chickens? That, to me, is a ‘Mirror’ that no one is willing to look in to.
Man, you are a riot! You previously stated that there was something wrong with people who eat chicken (each week) but are unwilling to support the industry that provides that chicken. So, I proceeded to show you how I would support that industry by instilling proper precautions in the form of regulated industry growth. For as you well know, raising chickens today is not farming…it is an industry. As far as my “Agenda” (and please explain to me, pray tell, what you believe that to be) is concerned, my only agenda is being able to live in an environment that ensures a healthy and sustainable lifestyle. End of story. I support regulated industry growth. I do not support the methods by which Monsanto and Tyson and Perdue, DuPont (Pioneer) and Syngenta have injected sickness into our daily lives by adding toxins to crop fields to control weed and insect infestations, and have genetically modified our foods as well for pretty much the same purpose. There are a whole slew of methods we could be using that are healthier and wiser but are being by passed because of money and re-directed science. It is our health, our children’s health and our grand-children’s health they are gambling with. That, Mr. Bell is my agenda. Take a look into your own mirror. Tell me what agenda you see.
My mirror shows a handsome man….
You side stepped the one thing I was interested in…..’The People’, not the industry.
So, what you are telling me, your agenda is narcissism. I, too, am interested in the people. As in people, all people have a right to question those that carry the authority to either enrich our lives or destroy our lives. Can I be any clearer than that? Or are you just some sad, lonely troll, toying with me…wasting yours and my time. If so, go back to your “Mirror” and watch the world pass on by. I have better things to do.
One Last Time!……I am talking about the severe dysfunction of a group of people who eat chicken, each week, but are unwilling to support the industry that provides the chickens…….How hard is that to understand? How hard is it to discuss that dysfunction? Not the Impact on the land…..The People!
Alright, this one last time…I went back and read your statement. It reads as such; “there is something wrong with any group of people that wish to eat chicken, each week, but are unwilling to support the industry that provides the chickens”. Correct? Then you ask me, “what, are my thoughts on that”. Lastly, you state you were talking about the dysfunction of a group of people who eat chicken, each week (hell, every night for all I care!), but are unwilling to support the industry that provides the chickens. If I am to correctly guess what you are talking about and asking me, what is wrong with these people? Well, first of all (and I am not dodging your question-however convoluted it is) I am not one to judge people, especially folks I do not know all that well. I cannot and will not discuss said dysfunction (again, your words, not mine!) within a group of people. If I did discuss dysfunctions of groups that would open a Pandora ’s Box of a whole bunch of groups I could write about all day. But that is not who I am. But, since you asked. And I am sure you count me as one of that “Dysfunctional” group…I will open up to what makes me tick. And I am sure that this “one last time” will not be sufficient an answer to your question. But, what the heck…it’s been fun.
I believe that in this country today, money is king. It is the driving wave of capitalism and materialism which makes all things go round and round. Not just in America, but world-wide. It is the candy behind the window through which 99.9999 percent of the world’s population stands and looks at longingly, faces pressed against said window, yet will never acquire. It makes some folks crazy. Those that have vast amounts of it, control the power. Those that control the power, control the money. See where I am going with this? The dysfunction is in the system itself. Oh yeah, it can possibly work on a local level, even on a state level…but the larger the faction, the harder it is to control. It costs a lot of money and power to maintain that control. It just goes round and round. In the last twenty five years, our penal system has grown by over twenty percent! Because crime has sky-rocketed? No…because control has tightened. Yes, you can argue crime has increased over the years, but statistics show a decrease in violent crime (over-all) since the early nineties. But an increase in incarceration and recidivism. But, I digress. The wage gap between the haves and have-nots has increased exponentially as well over the past fifty years. If you think that makes America great, you are sadly mistaken. It makes the have-nots just that more angry as their faces press harder against that proverbial candy store window. Which leads me to that dysfunctional group you are so enamored of.
They are people who are intelligent enough to see through the rhetoric and party line handed out by big business daily informing the masses that everything is going to be fine, just let us do our jobs and get out of the way. But, Mr. Bell, that is a lie! From the top on down, there is no control, no clear plan, no solutions. Only runaway expenditures, money looting and sense of anxiety from Wall Street to Main Street. We all feel it, but few know the root causes. The one’s you may consider dysfunctional, ill informed, maybe even Un-American are the ones who still have a voice and chose to use it. These are the same folks who will stand up to the Chicken Food Industry and question their tactics and usage of the land. They question with hard questions and expect the truth in return. They may chose not to eat chicken or any meat. They may wolf down copious amounts of chicken, I don’t know. Don’t care. What I care about is the land. Because I am a thinking person. And as an American, and as far as I know….I still have that right to petition and to fight and to vocalize my intent when I feel threatened. If that makes me dysfunctional in your eyes…then so be it! But, I will tell you Mr. Bell, what is wrong here is too many people allowing those powers to be, and in the name of money, do whatever they damned well please…to the bay, to the land and to you and me. I for one will not stop fighting until my last breath because I respect the land, the bay and you…and me and my children and their children. I hope that clears this up for you.