Letter to the Editor: Time to re-think hog confinement legislation

(John Carver of Decorah has submitted this Letter to the Editor):

The February 8th Des Moines Sunday Register carried an extensive article on confinement battlegrounds in the Northwest Iowa Great Lakes area. It appears there is a line in the sand whereby one object overwhelms the other. That is state vs local control.

Many parts of the state have become embroiled in this controversy. Northeast Iowa, for example, has confinement projects currently on the docket. The driftless area is an ecological wonder contiguous to three other states that strive to preserve what the glaciers missed. Locals have the same desire to preserve the environment.

The Register's article speaks to the legislature's desire to maintain the "matrix" that is the law to regulate the industry. States worry about federal laws that interfere with their business and local officials worry in the same vein about the states.

This is year 2015 and not 2002, when the state"matrix" became law. Confinement industries continue to evolve primarily due to state and political influence. It's time to re-think the legislation for local people where the hogs out number the population about 7 to 1.