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Saturday, November 16, 2019

Council Passes Moratorium On Ag Storage Tanks

SALISBURY – Officials in Wicomico County agreed this month to impose a moratorium on the issuance of building permits for certain agricultural storage tanks.

On Nov. 5, the Wicomico County Council voted to pass legislation declaring a moratorium on the issuance of building permits for agricultural storage tanks that hold waste, or sludge, from poultry renderings.

Earlier this year, Wicomico County Planning, Zoning and Community Development issued a building permit that would allow a local farmer to construct a three-million-gallon storage tank containing poultry by-products on his property in the area of Porter Mill Road. Since that time, several nearby residents have shared their concerns with the council regarding the potential smells and hazards associated with the tank.

While the moratorium on building permits would not affect that particular project, officials in Wicomico County argued it would allow for further review of the permitting process and zoning issues in agricultural areas.

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11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I guess Wicomico County leadership wants to put farmers out of business, and turn their land into housing developments for section eight residents and and estate houses for the wealthy Western shore retirees. I guess they know what brings in the money for the leadership to spend buying votes. Local farmers need to form a PAC and fund council candidates that will protect their interests. And they need to start NOW. That lobby in DC isn't going to help the farmers at the local level.

Anonymous said...

So now they are killing farmers land management plans, just like they recently killed a farmers right to build a large chicken production project. Farmers in Wicomico county are in big trouble. They need to use their POLITICAL power to put people in office that will support a farmer's "right to farm."

Anonymous said...

Educate yourselves.

Anonymous said...

So that the uneducated one can destroy the properties around the tank.

Anonymous said...

I wonder who the special interests are in this case and where the money trail leads.

When we moved here, we had to sign a disclaimer indicating that we understood that this was an agricultural area and we couldn't complain about the smells and activities taking place....

Someone is getting away with something that the ordinary citizen is required to accept!

Anonymous said...

No one is trying to hurt any farmer with this
The stuff they are putting in the ground DAF as Big Poultry likes to call it comes from the industrial waste hauler called valley proteins
The stuff is not allowed to be applied in Delaware or Va.
If one will educate themselves on this waste product from the poultry plants you will find all kinds of nasty chemicals in it, that is why Va and Delaware won't allow it to be applied in their states
The parties that dispose of this stuff pay the land owner to pump it in to their ground and get paid by Valley to get rid of it. If this product is so good for us why can't you plant food crops that people will eat after this has been applied
This product and storage of large amounts of it near you is not good for you,or the ground water we drink
The chicken company pays Valley to get remove the product from Va and De
They haul it to MD where we are dumb enough to let them pump it into your ground water
Huge business / disposing of this product is not farming
Building 3 million gallon tanks to store it in near someones home or in a community is dangerous / no spill cleanup plan in place
This stuff is not good for you or our County

Anonymous said...

We need more townhouses. We have to cater to the western Shore

Anonymous said...

when it starts to affect your drinking water is the best time to complain

Anonymous said...

No body wants to put farmers out of business.
However don't confuse farming with chicken plant waste disposal
The parties applying this DAF as the big chicken likes to call it get paid to dispose of the waste and related contaminates. Valley a industrial waste removal company gets paid to haul/ dispose of this waste. They pay land owners to allow them or their hauler to inject this stuff into the ground.
De and Va will not allow the process in their states. The waste is trucked to Maryland from those two states and injected here. Those pumping it into the ground might have a green tractor and have a farm but pumping sludge is not farming its the waste disposal BUSINESS.
The waste can not be applied to a field that food crops are going to be planted in.
The chemicals that are in DAF waste can harm humans that's the reason that a farmer who allows it to be injected in their fields can not grown food in that land for crops such as watermelons, sweet corn etc.
I encourage everyone that has a private well to educate yourself on this topic
DAF waste makes chicken manure seem good for you
The County has taken the correct step here .

Anonymous said...

Who on the county council is a chicken farmer? No one!

Anonymous said...

Let's see, chicken processors are allowed to bury hazardous waste in the ground that kills the ground for growing human food. The people on Line Rd. towards Mardella would be surprised what was buried under their houses. Perhaps they should investigate.