Blanked Out

Mark Kennedy tried and failed to tie the League of Conservation Voters and Amy Klobuchar to a false radical position.

What Kennedy forgot to mention is that he agrees with the LCV: manure is not toxic waste. The difference is that the LCV actually promotes positive solutions. From the LCV’s website: (emphasis added)

While most hog farms stink, and some contaminate waterways with waste-laden runoff, Legan’s operation is one of Indiana’s model farms, earning praise for consistently exceeding environmental requirements.

Legan’s business, Legan Livestock and Grain, experts say, exemplifies how modern pork producers can balance responsible farming and smart business.

The farm is a showcase of conservation. Manure is channeled into clay-lined lagoons filled with bacteria that help digest it. The waste is later sprayed onto crops as fertilizer at carefully determined rates.

Manure is not all that gets recycled on Legan’s farm. Even dead hogs are put to use, their remains shredded into nutrient-rich compost.

If Kennedy is going to claim he can “reach across the aisle” to get things done for Minnesotans, this would be a great place to start.

Mark, get the B.S. out of your stump speech and into the fields of Minnesota’s farmers.

UPDATE: MN Publius reminds us that Mark Kennedy salted the fields of many farmers by becoming the deciding vote in a $1.8 billion cut in farm aid. It will require a lot of manure to make that soil fertile again for Kennedy.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 2nd, 2006 at 4:15 pm and is filed under Amy Klobuchar, Mark Kennedy, Agriculture, Environment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.