Air quality experiment on Chicken CAFO
Missouri DNR officials did not make many friends in local Newton County by approving permits that will allow Moark (an egg producer) to add 2.6 million chickens to its operations there, but the state DNR has cut new regulatory ground. In exchange for being granted the permits, the egg producer has agreed to build and fund an air quality monitoring station at the egg farm.
The permits will permit Moark to increase the size of its operation in stages, depending on the results of the air quality measuring. The testing is to be conducted by an independent research team:
The first phase of Moark’s plan includes five houses, including the three previously OK’d by the DNR. They can be built immediately. But, at least six months of air monitoring showing compliance with odor standards is required before the DNR will authorize construction of the second phase, which calls for four new poultry buildings. The final phase of construction, four poultry buildings, will be authorized only after successful completion of phases one and two. Six months of additional odor compliance will be required for authorization.
Renee Bungart, DNR division information officer, said information from the research station will be used to evaluate odor levels and emissions including hydrogen sulfide, ammonia and particulate matter, and will help demonstrate compliance with Moark’s odor-control plan. “It’s a proactive approach to the whole permitting process,” Bungart said of the research station.
Link to a story in the Joplin Globe.
