With the state level agriculture officials intent on growing Indiana’s confinement farming operations, and the state level environmental officials only mildly interested in enforcing what little regulation already in place on
CAFO’s, many rural residents are looking to their local government to provide some means of controlling the growth of these farms.
Of course, controlling growth is what local governments are supposed to do, so it makes sense for local governmental bodies to address CAFO’s in detail. The agra business is pushing back against local ordinances, either directly by threatening economic loss, or from the top, by getting the
legislature to block local CAFO ordinances.
The problem with relying on the water permitting process through
IDEM as the sole means of regulating CAFO’s is that these regulations only deal with a limited range of issues, primarily dealing with direct discharge of manure into waterways. Appropriate management of a mega-farm requires attention to the soil structure, proximity to dwellings, aquifer and watershed protection, and some way of mitigating the loss of property values suffered by neighboring property owners.
Through a local correspondent, I have a a example of a proposed local ordinance from Elmore County, Idaho that addresses the issues in a comprehensive way:
CAFO Draft Ordinance (PDF).
Despite the push to get local governments to step in, the business interests behind the push to confinement operations is very well organized and financed. Our own Indiana Farm Bureau recently formed a legal defense fund to provide support for farmers facing legal issues:
Farm Bureau’s Ag Law Foundation receives major contributions. Up in Michigan, the Farm Bureau is pushing a band of new legislation that would let CAFO operators avoid the water permitting process as well as force people who file complaints about CAFO’s to give their name and address, and potentially pay the costs of the investigation if the complaint is not substantiated:
Farmers who participate would be exempt from obtaining water pollution permits and get a booklet that guides on environmental law. The package intends to make environmental laws consistent between the state’s Department of Agriculture and Department of Environmental Quality.
“The MAEAP teaches (farmers) to be good stewards of their land and use chemicals properly and properly dispose of animal waste,” said Rep. Leslie Mortimer, R-Horton, who outlined the booklet.
Environmentalists worry these bills will relax Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, or CAFOs, regulations and lead to more pollution in Michigan’s water systems. CAFOs are factories where animals are confined for at least 45 days in an area, usually a pole barn, without vegetation, said Sierra Club state director Anne Woiwode.
The legislation would exempt polluted run-off water from CAFOs from state water quality laws unless the farmer contaminated ground water intentionally, Woiwode said.
“These facilities have potential to cause serious public health problems with an enormous amount of bacteria in the water and air,” Woiwode said.
The bills require people making more than three complaints against a farm to give personal information and pay for the investigation of the complaint if no infractions are found, Woiwode said. She said people would be scared to file complaints because it could lead to harassment or paying fines. The names of complainants would be released to the CAFO operators.
Link (MSU’s State News).
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, February 28th, 2006 at 6:48 am and is filed under environment.
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