Horribly Damaging Bill Now In Mo Senate!!!!!

The following is a very important post I found this am on the Ozark Angler.com conservation forum. This Mo Senate bill needs to be soundly defeated. Here in the Ozarks, we cannot allow powerful ag interests from Jeff City to cram anti-conservation legislation down our throats like this...stripping us of our LOCAL control over our own air/water quality and land use. Please write your state senator and urge him/her to vote NO on this bill.

"Found the following in the Kansas City Star Friday March 2, 2007

The other locations for the permits will be Mark Twain Lake, Battle of Athens Historic site in Clark County & Arrow Rock Mo. will be granted permits for construction of 4,800-head hog farms.

Here is the real shock of the article; and I will quote "State Senator Chris Koster, recently filed SB 364, which would protect farmers from costly lawsuits over odors or pollution and would pre-empt local laws regulating agricultural operations"

"The Senate committee passed the bill, which now goes before the full Senate"


Koster says he's simply recognizing that agriculture is moving "towards the modern world whether we like it or not"


WELL if this is the "modern world" take me back to the stone age!!

I think the Honorable Senator from Harrisonville needs to quit smelling the roses corporate agribusiness sends him and take a sip of swill we all will be drinking!"

Blogger's Note: This post was a reply to a thread on OzarkAnglers.com's conservation forum about a new permit just granted within 1/2 mile of Roaring River State Park for a 65,600 bird poultry CAFO (confined animal feeding operation) on the Roaring River, which feeds into Table Rock Lake.

If nothing else, I would make sure that Senator is unemployed come next election!

Semepr Fi!

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Originally Posted by Gigmaster

If nothing else, I would make sure that Senator is unemployed come next election!

Semepr Fi!

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SB364 was on the floor yesterday for perfection and I emailed my state Senator, Norma Champion, and made it pretty clear that if she didn't work aggressively to defeat this bill, that I would be working aggressively to defeat HER come next election.

This bill is sailing through with magic speed. That means there is a LOT of money being thrown around in support of it. And that's no surprise.

Every Missourian who reads this needs to contact their state Senator immediately and express the strongest possible objection to this bill. In essence, what it does is prevents any city or county from enforcing any environmental/conservation regs that are stricter than the state regs...which have some huge loopholes...and prevents any stakeholder from sueing any farm for environmental reasons. Even the next door farmer couldn't sue another farmer for polluting the stream they share, etc.

Senator Champion is strongly opposed. The senate webmaster was apparently not forwarding mail to the senators regarding SB 364...Hmmmmmm. Interesting. I'm sure it was just a computer "glitch." Right? :wink:

Most of our region's water quality and conservation orgs are lobbying against this bill, and I am told by them that so are our city and county officials. There is one NFP watershed org here that I still have not gotten any response from...2 weeks after initial contact (with multiple follow-ups). That organization is the James River Basin Partnership. I have no idea what's up with them. Southwest MO Fly Fishers works very closely with them on Stream Team projects and so forth. Several members have expressed their concern and disappointment to me regarding this lack of response. I guess they have bigger fish to save.

The thanks I have gotten for making everyone aware of this threat to our regional ecology is that I have been threatened and harassed by several members of the Arkansas Guide Association and the two top employees of the Watershed Committee of the Ozarks. They seem to me to be more concerned with anything that might call attention to any imperfection than they are with a piece of legislation set for passage by the state senate that would be a HUGE step backwards in terms of environmental protection in this region. But I will say Watershed Committee of the Ozarks is working aggressively within their charter to combat SB 364. But they sure didn't say, "thanks for bring this to our attention." Instead, they spent about an hour of their time threatening me for mentioning that I had tried to contact them and not yet gotten a response on Monday. :roll: I was a bit taken aback that I had to do it, but I explained to them that trying to intimidate journalists for reporting facts is NEVER a good career move. So, instead of me singing nothing but their praises in today's blogs and posts (that reach about 15,000 people per day), I will be discussing press intimidation from an environmental protection non-profit's leadership in response to me calling for a pro-environment response to a very bad piece of legislation. What the heck are these folks thinking? :roll:

If I choose to pretend I sometimes play at being a journalist, I can't/won't take a side on this issue regardless, or more importantly, because of my views. It is well excepted that one either 'goes to the circus, or reports on the circus.' To do both shows bias and is not considered quality journalism. To have passion for a cause is not a bad thing, nor is reporting about it, nor is being an advocate for ideas. One should only be certain of the choice of hat worn at the time.

This is neither a comment on the subject nor the way it is being reported.

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Originally Posted by J Castwell

If I choose to pretend I sometimes play at being a journalist, I can't/won't take a side on this issue regardless, or more importantly, because of my views. It is well excepted that one either 'goes to the circus, or reports on the circus.' To do both shows bias and is not considered quality journalism. To have passion for a cause is not a bad thing, nor is reporting about it, nor is being an advocate for ideas. One should only be certain of the choice of hat worn at the time.

This is neither a comment on the subject nor the way it is being reported.

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No! You're absolutely right! I identified myself as an outdoor journalist when contacting these organizations. And I asked them if they were aware of the bill and what their positions were on it. I told them their statements should be official and might be published.

And I don't pretend. I'm probably the only guy who ever writes for this website who has ever been a member of OWAA. And I have numerous print publications over the years ranging from national magazines with huge circulations and scholarly journals to several massive websites (articles and blogs) and a few obscure books; not to mention over 5,000 official US government documents. Outdoor journalism is but one of the subjects I write about. I am currently writing a major feature for a regional magazine about the loft movement in Springfield, Missouri. That will be published next month. And I've done a few TV shows and a bunch of radio talk shows on hunting subjects. So I don't think that makes me a "pretender."

I was defining myself, certainly not you, nor would I ever do so. We, my wife and I, were both 'proud' members of OWA but resigned when the standards were compromised in favor of attracting and accepting members with inferior qualifications and lower ethics. I still treasure the national journalism award my wife received from Columbia though. But me, I am still just a hack.

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Originally Posted by J Castwell

I was defining myself, certainly not you, nor would I ever do so. We, my wife and I, were both 'proud' members of OWA but resigned when the standards were compromised in favor of attracting and accepting members with inferior qualifications and lower ethics. I still treasure the national journalism award my wife received from Columbia though. But me, I am still just a hack.

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Yes, I consider y'all models of journalistic excellence and true movers-and-shakers in the fly fishing world. That's why I contribute. I'm glad to know you weren't trying to characterize me as a "pretender." I've always been under the impression that LadyFisher likes my writing. I wish I had something fly-fishing related to say every week that I thought might be interesting to someone else. But I don't. I tend to take a rather zen-ish approach to fishing. So the less thought that goes into it...in general...the better. And that doesn't translate well into a weekly column anyone would want to read. :lol:

Pretend was self inflicted. Sometimes I envision myself with a monks hood, walking along smacking myself in the forehead with a board. Self flagellation, no; but self deprecation? Sure...

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Originally Posted by J Castwell

Pretend was self inflicted. Sometimes I envision myself with a monks hood, walking along smacking myself in the forehead with a board. Self flagellation, no; but self deprecation? Sure...

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Gotcha! Just had a bad morning here with all these knuckleheads wasting their time trying to kill the messenger instead of killing that bill. So I guess I got into the rut of anticipating criticism. :roll:

Silvermallard,
I dont know how to PM. I do know how toaccess it though.
Im up here in KCMO. Do you know who I contact to raise caine?
Perch

Perch,,, click on 'View users profile' of his.

perch,

Go to http://www.senate.state.mo.us

Click on Senators.

Click on Find Your Legislators.

Enter your zip code.

It will tell you your elected officials.

Call your state senator's office. It's too late for letters or emails. CALL.

This debate is still ongoing.

The bill was defeated when a compromise version was brought to a vote, but it was put back on the calendar to return to the floor for a vote again. Governor Matt Blunt has sided with the agri-biz industry against the tourism industry, recreation industry, counties, cities, small family farmers and rural residents, our 2nd largest rural insurance company, and public health in general to support SB364. And his father, Rep. Roy Blunt (US Congress) is actually appearing at speaking engagements with the CEO of Mo Farm Bureau in support of SB364. Some of the things they are saying are just monumentally stupid. I will leave you with a recent quote from the Congressman from here in Springfield...father of our Governor who also lives here:

"Large-scale agriculture in Missouri is too important to not protect it from uneducated, under-informed local politicians."

This was his answer to a question from the Chairman of the County Commissioners of Greene County...his own district...at a recent town hall meeting on the subject.

FYI, the Blunt family has substantial financial interests in large-scale corporate agriculture in MO.

The Senate killed SB364 for this session and is appointing a bipartisan committee from both houses of the legislature to study the issue between now and the next session. They said the heated debate made it impossible to pass meaninful legislation THIS TIME.

Score one for the good guys...for now. :D