Pierce County CAFO Fight

Whether you’ve lived in Pierce County for a few seasons or a few generations; whether you’re a farmer, teacher, or stay at home parent; all of us deserve clean water from our kitchen taps. People Protecting Pierce is a growing group of Pierce County neighbors who are fighting for clean water, clean air and to preserve the rural way of life in Pierce County. 

Rapidly expanding corporate CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) are putting our water and families at risk of nitrate contamination in the water we drink for their own profit.

The operation and expansion of CAFOs in Pierce County puts our futures at risk unless our County Board members take the steps to protect us: to understand the impacts industrial farms are having on our families’ health and resources and to protect our families’ health, properties, resources, and way of life. Families in Pierce County don’t want CAFO operations contaminating our way of life, endangering our families’ health, or destroying our infrastructure and property values. We need the time to understand how to control and repair existing contamination and limit further damage.

The first objective of the campaign was to move the Pierce County Board to pass a 12-month moratorium on CAFO expansions. That effort was rebuffed by the Pierce County Land Conservation Committee in July, despite over 730 Pierce County residents signed on to the petition in support. 

We supported the Waste Storage Ordinance passed in August as a step in the right direction, but it’s far from enough.

This campaign began this spring with about a half dozen folks coming together in the Town of Salem – first meeting in a family garage: folks like Sam, a sixth-generation farmer and mother of two; Troy, whose father and grandfather were award-winning conservationists who raised their families there; Nancy and Doug, who are looking forward to passing their farmland property down to their children and grandchildren. 

Together they are rallying with Pierce County neighbors to move county action to protect our water, homes, and futures here.

No matter who we are, all of our families deserve to be able to trust that the water that comes out of our kitchen taps is clean and safe. Hear Samantha’s story about why she and her neighbors on the People Protecting Pierce campaign are leading the fight for oversight.

Make your gift and join the fight today.