Cafo bill off for further study
Oops, Senate Bill 123, that I discussed here, put forth by local Senator Allen Paul to put some restrictions on Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO’s) now appears destined for the scrap heap:
A bill that would have forced the Indiana Department of Environmental Management to penalize polluting confined animal feeding operations likely will go to a summer study committee.
On Monday, Senate Bill 123 was amended by the Senate Energy and Environmental Affairs Committee to require further study on the issue this year, said Sen. Allen Paul, R-Richmond. He said he expects the amended bill to be approved in the Senate and sent on to the House. The study committee will begin its work in June if the bill is approved by both Houses and signed by the governor.
“It’s a very difficult issue, and both sides seem unwilling sometimes to negotiate,” Paul said. “With the new staff at IDEM, this will give them some time to get their feet on the ground. There is no easy remedy, but I don’t want a bill that doesn’t do anything.”
Paul wrote the bill in response to requests by Randolph County residents who fought a 1,650-cow megadairy that was granted a federal permit in fall 2004 by IDEM. That permit is under appeal, but construction on the dairy has begun.
Randolph residents wanted the bill because they say IDEM’s enforcement actions against polluting confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) lack muscle because it forgives fines and allows multiple violations.
Paul’s original bill would have forced IDEM to revoke a CAFO’s permit after three environmental violations.
The Indiana Farm Bureau spoke against the bill when a committee heard it three weeks ago but supports sending the issue to a study committee, said Bob Kraft, director of state government relations for Indiana Farm Bureau.
“We spoke in opposition because it was a ‘three strikes and you’re out,’” Kraft said. “There was no definition of the three strikes. They could have been minor offenses and leave a farmer with no livelihood.”
Although Farm Bureau Inc. supports farmers, it wants livestock operations to comply with environmental rules, Kraft said. The study committee should determine criteria to define blatant violators and focus on continued compliance rather than enforcement after a violation occurs, he said.
Link.
See the current bill here.
