House Bill 1184, the CAFO poopline bill, comes before Senate Transportation on Monday. Speaker G. Mark Mickelson is just a co-sponsor, but you can bet the House’s biggest CAFO entrepreneur will be watching closely.
My friend Megan Dahle (who was sitting right next to me when I started typing up this post), mentions Mickelson’s CAFO self-interest in her boffo explanation of why HB 1184 is a big pile of what it wants to ship across your driveway:
…What business does Mickelson have with rural/agricultural bills? Well, it turns out that he consults for these giant out-of-state corporations that build and manage CAFOs. It’s his job to make sure these guys rake in as much profit as possible. And now he’s using his seat in the legislature to remove the rights of land owners and state citizens.
…Picture your front yard on a nice, sunny spring day – in fact, it’s the day of your daughter’s graduation and you’re having a party. Now picture a crew of workers placing a 8-inch diameter black hose through the middle of it without your permission. There’s no one to call. You can’t say no. There is nothing you can do.
Just because this is a rural issue doesn’t mean it shouldn’t concern you. You should be very concerned by our legislature’s willingness to sell land-owner’s rights. You should also be concerned that legislatures are profiting from the bills they write and vote on [Megan Dahle, “Will Mickelson Profit from CAFO Legislation?” that Sioux Falls paper, 2018.02.23].
Another friend, Scotland farmer and former Senator Frank Kloucek, talks science to urge Senate Transportation not to buy HB 1184:
My uncle and dad had one of the first total confinement hog barns in the 1970s in Bon Homme County. My brother and I were loading liquid manure from that manure pit when the hose broke. We did not smell good for days and our mother burned our clothes. It also happened on a few other occasions when a valve was left open or any number of malfunctions occurred. This concentrated liquid manure is anaerobic [not exposed to oxygen] when in the manure pit and is a lot more dangerous that the above ground aerobic [exposed to oxygen] manure.
…Allowing the county commission to have the final say is also a huge property rights issue. No easement has been given in this legislation to pump this over other property owners’ ditches etc. To say the least, HB 1184 needs a lot of work and is in no way ready for passage if ever it would be. HB 1184 might save money on wear and tear of county roads but does that outweigh the risk of spillage and contamination issues of leakage down a road ditch?
…Please vote no on HB1184 [Frank Kloucek, e-mail to legislators and DFP, 2018.02.23].
HB 1184 is an effort to lower the cost of doing business for Mickelson’s clients by relieving them of the burden of striking fair deals with their neighbors for the privilege of disposing of their waste. If you care about property rights (not to mention environmental quality), contact Chairman Ernie Otten and the other six members of Senate Transportation and tell them to start their Monday morning right with a vote to kill House Bill 1184.
Mr. Frank Kloucek, according to all scorecards, is the most ineffective in the legislatures over the past 30 years. I do acknowledge Mr. Nelson is very rapidly approaching Mr. Kloucek’s records. But still. Mr. H. Really?
How long has it been since we made the national news for some dubious legislator comment or legislative proposal? If this gets passed we’re going to make the national news again. Pig poop for everyone! WOOHOOOO!!!!
Mickelson is apparently a one man army. How does he get away with pretty obvious unethical legislating? Is it going to take mass murder/sooicides in CAFOs to draw attention to this thug?
Grudz, Frank Kloucek has been very effective for his district and for many ordinary folks who found him unafraid to stand up to the elite. When you fight for people instead of vested special interests, the elite fights back with the kind of smears you used. Kloucek often carried bills for people who wanted to get their issues before the legislature for a hearing. He has a lifetime in production agriculture, and has expertise that Mickelson could never pretend to. Mickelson’s “expertise” in this area involves corruption, influence peddling and pushing out citizen participation. Granted that is not the expertise Kloucek would ever want to have. Kloucek is also right on the science, something you boast to be in support of. #4science.
Ror, I wish this bill would get some national attention. Outside reporters only seem to notice South Dakota when we’re fighting the culture war. HB 1184 deals with property rights and big business, and it doesn’t plug into national debates with which readers are already familiar. We have to explain CAFOs and manure disposal, so the national reporters don’t feel like spending their time on the issue.
Loucek and Dahle both have farm cred. They also respect private property rights far more than the Republicans pushing this bill to lower costs and boost profits for one business subset. We should respect their perspectives and kill this bill.
Here is iowa’s constitution on eminent domain law- Eminent domain – drainage ditches and levees.
SEC. 18. Private property shall not be taken for
public use
without just compensation first being made, or secu
red to be made to the owner thereof, as soon as the
damages
shall be assessed by a jury, who shall not take int
o consideration any advantages that may result to s
aid owner
on account of the improvement for which it is taken
.
The general assembly, however, may pass laws permit
ting the owners of lands to construct drains, ditch
es,
and levees for agricultural, sanitary or mining pur
poses across the lands of others, and provide for t
he
organization of drainage districts, vest the proper
authorities with power to construct and maintain l
evees, drains
and ditches and to keep in repair all drains, ditch
es, and levees heretofore constructed under the law
s of the
state, by special assessments upon the property ben
efited thereby. The general assembly may provide b
y law
for the condemnation of such real estate as shall b
e necessary for the construction and maintenance of
such
drains, ditches and levees, and prescribe the metho
d of making such condemnation.
Paragraph 2 added 1908, Amendment
[13