Articles on the Stakeholders Meeting

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20305156&BRD=1817&PAG=461&dept_id=68561&rfi=8

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20304125&BRD=1817&PAG=461&dept_id=68561&rfi=8

Handouts from PM10 Stakeholders Meeting April 17, 2009

Stakeholder Meeting April 17, 2009

http://pinalcountyaz.gov/Departments/AirQuality/Documents/Public%20Notices/ANPRMV3.pdf

This information should have been made more public to the citizens of Maricopa. This meeting was a PM10 Stakeholders Meeting in regards to: Initial stakeholder discussion of the accompanying draft of a rule establishing PM10-related emission standards for commercial feedlots.

"The number of PM10 exceedances at the Cowtown monitor dwarfs the number at any other monitoring site. While other monitors in Pinal County report as many as 25 or 30 exceedances per year, the Cowtown monitor stands alone in consistently reporting more than 200 exceedances per year."

"At the Cowtown monitor, manure constitutes the dominant fraction of PM10. A 7 chemical speciation study found that at PM10 monitors other than the Cowtown monitor, manure constituted no more than 20% of observed particulate matter. However, at the Cowtown monitor a chemical speciation analysis indicated that more than 60% of observed particulate matter consisted of manure."

"The combination of the number of PM10 exceedances and the very high PM10 concentrations observed at the Cowtown monitor result in the AIRS AQS system reporting that for PM10, Pinal County constitutes the most polluted place in the country."

Who Pays to Clean Up CAFO Waste?

http://www.ucsusa.org/assets/documents/food_and_agriculture/cafo_issue-briefing-low-res.pdf

Taxpayers pay to clean up CAFO waste—yet most CAFO pollution remains. CAFOs produce some 300 million tons of untreated manure each year (about twice as much as is generated by the entire human population of the United States). The disposal and cleanup cost for all of this manure would hobble CAFOs if they had to pay for it themselves. But another program authorized by the federal farm bill, the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), subsidizes the cleanup of some CAFO waste.

Can composting the manure solve the CAFO's waste problem?

http://michigan.sierraclub.org/issues/greatlakes/articles/cafofaqs.html

In short, no. And, as you read the bulleted list below, remember that a Michigan CAFO can have a compost pile within 200 feet of its neighbor.

In addition to manure and other materials, CAFO compost piles may have up to 20,000 pounds of dead animals in one pile (and if just one animal had mad cow disease and this pile is spread on the land, the prions could enter the food or milk supply). For more information on prions, see the Center for Disease Control Prion Diseases webpage.

• CAFO compost piles draw vermin, rats, flies, coyotes, and vultures.
• Most CAFO compost sites do not have runoff containment structures, and the nutrient-rich liquids can cause algae blooms if they reach surface waters.
• The odors emitted can become very strong if the composting is not done correctly.

There is a composting site along "Cowtown". Some believe that composting the manure solves the situation of "too much manure". According to this information it does nothing to help, but to make wallets more fatter meanwhile public health is put at risk. Here there are about, if not more than a half a million cattle. Now think how much manure they can create? Can all of it be used or is some just decomposing? This information is based off of Dairy CAFOs http://www.sraproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/dairytalkingpoints.pdf

Now what happens when "manure" decomposes? Decomposing animal manure gives off a variety of gases including hydrogen sulphide, carbon dioxide and methane. Of all these gases, hydrogen sulphide or more commonly called manure gas, is the most dangerous. Hydrogen Sulphide (H2S) has been responsible for many animal deaths as well as occasional human deaths.

http://www.cdc.gov/nasd/docs/d001501-d001600/d001535/d001535.html

Manure Gas Danger:

http://www.cdc.gov/nasd/docs/d001601-d001700/d001616/d001616.html

Now do we just sit back and do nothing? This city was built around the feedlots and clearly it was known that there was extereme health risk to humans as well as a threat to the environment here. We are here now, some of us were lied to about the farms being sold and the cattle being moved by their home builder. Ours was Hacienda Builders who was yours if you were lied to about the same thing? According to Pinal Co. there was never an agreement for the farms to be sold nor the cattle to be moved. The developer, the builders and Pinal County should have ensured public safety before building and allowing people to move into such horrific conditions. As our rights we should have been notified of such conditions and not lied to. Now the feedlots knew they were kicking in major pollution into the air and possibly the water and because of this Maricopa will be placed in a Nonattainment Area. If they also cared about the public safety why wasn't something done in 2005, 2006, 2007 & 2008? Why is there such a panic now? Is it because people are complaining of the air quality? As for the reduced odor, what is happening is that the manure is being sprayed with water and some kind of chemical to keep down the odors. Do you think that solves the issue? Or do you think it could create more leakage into the groud water?

A open letter to the Mayor of Maricopa

http://maricopa360.com/?p=4566#more-4566

This article was written by James Reynolds Hull, PhD who is part of Helping Our Polluted Environment.

Air Quality Summit 2008 EPA Region 9's Perspective Report

http://pinalcountyaz.gov/Departments/AirQuality/Documents/AQSummit/ColleenMckaughan.pdf

What this article is, it's the Pinal County Air Quality Summit 2008 EPA Region 9's Perspective dated November 7, 2008. Where it talks about Particulate Matter and what it is and how it affects human health. Large particles of PM10 deposit in the upper respiratory tract and smaller particles of PM10 penetrate deep into the lungs. You will also read that many scientific studies have linked breathing particle pollution to a series of significant health problems such as:

• Aggravated Asthma
• Increases in respiratory symptoms like coughing and difficult or painful breathing
• Chronic Bronchitis
• Decreased Lung Funtion
• Premature death in people with heart or lung disease
  

On page 6 it's about the EPA Region 9's Perspective on Pinal County's PM-10 Status Pinal county has violated the PM10 standard since 2002:

• In 2002, two violating monitors
• In 2008, seven violating monitors
• Cowtown monitor is the worst

On page 9 there is a chart that shows PM10 Violations in Pinal County, Arizona and the expected number of days per year exceeding the 24-hour standard. Worst PM10 Air Quality sites in the USA 2005-2007. Pinal Co. - Cowtown is top of the list with 222.2 expected exceedance days.

Ok here is the conclusion from the report:

• Region 9 is planning to redesignate Pinal County to a nonattainment for PM10
• The area has been violating since 2002, so citizens are breathing unheathy air