HOMES - Home

Attention: open in a new window. PDFPrintE-mail

Last Updated on Tuesday, 06 March 2012 12:55

HOMES needs your help NOW more than ever!

Please click the "Donate" button to contribute to our legal fund.

Your donation is tax deductible as we are a 501 (c) (3) tax exempt organization.

Or send your support check to:

HOMES, PO Box 674, Warren, IL 61087.

Your support is critical to helping us win a permanent injunction against this factory.

HOMES would like to thank the local farmer that provided a side of grass-fed beef for our November raffle. We also tip our hat to another supporter that donated a pair of Green Bay vs. Chicago football tickets. All the winners were drawn on November 8th. Keep watching this site for notice of future raffles.

 

HOMES Meetings

HOMES is now holding our regular meetings at 6:30 pm on the the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of every month at two new locations. Stop by for legal updates, information about other groups fighting CAFOs, and help us plan future educational presentations.

Join us the second Tuesday of every month at 6:30 pm at the recently reopened Hixsters. Located on the north side of Main Street next to the hardware store. Please use the rear entrance since the restaurant is closed on Tuesday.

Then bring a dish to share at our monthly pot luck meeting the fourth Tuesday of every month at 6:30 pm at the home of Sue and Ken Turner, 415 Park Street in Warren. Just park in the driveway.


Latest News

  • URGENT! State Representative Jim Sacia has introduced a bill that would make taking or possession of a photograph or video at a livestock facility a felony. HB5143 is in response to the shocking videos taken in 2011 documenting inhumane treatment of cows, pigs and fowl at industrial facilities. Since injured animals are more likely to carry diseases and infections, the public health is at risk when facilities flaunt the law. Instead of requiring these poorly managed operations to follow USDA guidelines, Rep. Sacia would rather threaten reporters with jail time for publicizing these atrocities. If you want to know how your food was treated, contact your state representative today and ask them to vote NO on HB5143. Remind your representative that the public has a right to know how their food is being raised. If you don’t know who you representative is, you can find them here http://www.elections.il.gov/districtlocator/districtofficialsearchbyaddress.aspx While you are at it, visit this web site, and send a message to the chairman of the committee:http://www.change.org/petitions/judiciary-i-civil-law-committee-97th-general-assembly-do-not-allow-bill-hb5143-to-pass-the-ag-gag-bill

  • On February 21, 2012, the Illinois Pollution Control Board posted on their web site that no settlement was likely in the purple leachate discharge case brought against the megadairy by the Office of the Attorney General, and requested a status update on April 19, 2012. It is very likely that this case won't be decided until at least 2013.
  • On September 2nd, 2011 the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) denied the Traditions megadairy’s Clean Water Act Section 401 Water Quality Certification application. The 401 certification was required by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers after the Corps determined that the megadairy was planning to build one of its two 14 acre manure ponds atop of a tributary at the headwaters of the Apple River.
  • If megadairy ever wants to become operational, it will either have to reapply for the 401 permit certification with the IEPA, or submit a new set of revised plans with the IDOA for a much smaller facility that doesn’t need both 14 acre manure ponds. Click here for full story
  • Starting in late June, 2011, workers at the site of the megadairy have been disassembling the two barns that were installed in 2008. As of Tuesday, July 19th, both barns are completely disassembled. Each barn is about 1,000 feet long. Flatbed trucks loaded with steel have been seen leaving the facility and heading into Wisconsin. Pictures of the disassembled barn can be seen on our "Photos" page.
  • On April 20, 2011 the Illinois Attorney General filed a five-count suit with the Illinois Pollution Control Board against the megadairy after their investigation of the October 1, 2010 purple discharge. This suit adds yet another hurdle that the California millionaire investor will have to clear before he can operate his 5,500-head dairy, which will endanger the pristine Apple River Canyon State Park and jeopardize dozens of family-owned farms.
  • The five counts address Clean Water Act violations, including water pollution, discharging without a permit, and discharging effluent into waters of the state. Each of the five counts carries a penalty of $50,000 per incident plus $10,000 per day, for a total fine of more than $250,000.
  • On Friday, October 1, 2010, neighbors of the A.J. Bos megadairy noticed that the normally clear tributary to the Apple River that originated on the site of the Bos facility was bright purple. HOMES contacted the IEPA and the US EPA, both of whom immediately sent inspectors to the site.
  • An employee of the facility told investigators that on the previous day, September 30, he dumped 320,000 gallons of purple silage leachate onto five acres of Bos property, or about 64,000 gallons per acre. Agronomic application rates are usually 3,000 to 6,000 gallons per acre.

Action Alert - Thank You for Your Support

The Clean Water Funding Fairness Bill didn't get voted on this legislative session. Due to intensive lobbying by both Farm Bureau and State Representative Jim Sacia, there weren't enough Yes votes confirmed in time to call a vote before the end of the session.

This fee would only apply to CAFOs that had a history of illegal discharges, and not family farms.

House Amendment 1 to S.B. 1682 will protect clean water by ensuring that factory farms—or Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs)—fund their share of Illinois's Clean Water Act rather than shifting their costs to other industries or taxpayers.

Currently all pollution dischargers, from the largest industries to the smallest villages, have to pay an annual permit fee, except for CAFOs.

Despite the massive wastes generated by CAFOs, and their terrible record of environmental damage, including fish kills, CAFOs have been exempt from paying their fair share of the costs associated with monitoring and preventing pollution discharges.

This bill will not affect traditional family farms and will only require the largest polluting animal factories to pay their fair share of monitoring expenses. The Illinois EPA will use these fees to employ agents that will monitor these large CAFOs.

This bill is endorsed by the Illinois EPA, the Illinois Association of Wastewater Agencies, and numerous state environmental groups, including the Sierra Club, Environment Illinois, and the Illinois Environmental Council.

 

What you can do

Want to help? Check out our “What you can do” page.

 


Gov. Pat Quinn
Supports HOMES


Click on image above to download a copy of HOMES's full page ad that you can print out or send to friends via email.