Clearing the Air

A couple of North Carolina environmental professors (William H. Schlesinger of Duke University and Viney P. Aneja of N.C. State), report today on the outcome of a conference of 300 agricultural scientists, in part focusing on air quality issues. A big deal in North Carolina, as the state was the first to open its arms to hog CAFO’s, and it is important to Indiana as it was North Carolina’s CAFO moratorium that has pushed large CAFO groups into Indiana:

We may smell the presence of a nearby hog lagoon, but few of us realize how gaseous nitrogen compounds from farms might also affect air quality over broad areas. Each day about 300 tons of ammonia are emitted from hog production facilities in North Carolina. This gas forms small particles in the atmosphere, exacerbating respiratory diseases such as asthma and emphysema.

New studies show that much of the ammonia travels long distances before it is deposited. Atmospheric ammonia can contribute to excessive nutrient enrichment of rivers, estuaries and coastal waters, resulting in toxic conditions for fish. Airborne nitrogen has direct effects on the growth of pine trees, so the emissions from farm fields can also lower the productivity of nearby forests.

Agricultural soils emit large amounts of nitric oxide (NOx), ranking third behind cars and coal-fired power plants as a source of this air pollutant in the Southeast. North Carolina’s Clean Smokestacks legislation went a long way toward cleaning up our power plant emissions, but persistent emissions of NOx from farms contribute to high concentrations of ozone in rural North Carolina air. Ozone, of course, is well known for its human health effects, which now include an increased risk of heart disease.

Methane and nitrous oxide emitted from anoxic waste lagoons become “greenhouse” gases in Earth’s atmosphere, where they contribute to global warming. Lowering the emissions of these gases from agriculture may be the easiest way for North Carolina to reduce its impact on the Earth’s climate.

All told, atmospheric scientists know that more than 400 gases are emitted from agricultural operations in the United States. As with all pollutants, it is easier to control emissions of nitrogen gases and other compounds from agriculture at their source, rather than after they have dispersed to downstream or downwind areas.

Link. (NC News & Observer)

The scientist also note that technologies are developing to reduce gases released by factory farms, but notes that, while regulations have been put in place to deal with traditional industrial pollution, lawmakers have been slow to recognize the sophisticated agricultural operations as industrial polluters, and hence, slow to force them to adopt technologies to reduce the release of air pollutants.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 3rd, 2006 at 7:06 am and is filed under CAFO. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.