In direct response to the the call by 2 East Central Indiana legislators for increased inspections of CAFO’s, IDEM has announced that it will add 2 routine inspections of new CAFO operations in the first year of operation. Generally, the only time IDEM would visit a CAFO in the first year of operation is when there is a spill or complaint. Gov. Daniels issued a press release:

“We are committed to higher farm income through a growing livestock sector, and equally to a healthy environment,” Gov. Mitch Daniels said in a news release. “These goals can absolutely be pursued together. The public deserves to know that the most modern practices are being used and that all the rules are being firmly enforced. We’ll do what’s necessary to ensure both.”

IDEM does not know if the new inspections regime will be within the capabilities of its current 16 inspectors. Link (Star Press)

Proposed amendments to the Jay County Planning Commission’s regulations concerning confined and concentrated animal feeding operations were rejected by the Jay County Board of Commissioners this week because the commissioners wanted more information. The commissioners said they were waiting for results from a study by Ball State University’s Office of Building Better Communities for the Agriculture in Concert with Regional Economics project.

Link (Star Press )

The nation’s second largest pork producer, Premium Standard Farms, is in the process of being purchased by the number 1 player, Smithfield Foods, Inc., but first it is paying a jury verdict against it for $4.5 million. The lawsuit was brought by neighbors of one of the company’s hog farms in Missouri who complained of the smell. The company agreed not to appeal the verdict:

The same Jackson County jury also found grounds for punitive damages against Kansas City-based Premium Standard Farms, but the company agreed not to appeal the actual damages award and the plaintiffs in exchanged dropped their request for punitive damages.

Link (Kansas City Star).

The article notes that this is one of more than 50 lawsuits pending against the company, along with a class action lawsuit seeking to represent anyone who resides within 10 miles from one of the company’s farms. Clearly, the neighbors of these farms are not happy. IT is important to note that these challenges to big farms are coming from traditional rural families. As Mike Platt, the new president of Indiana Pork (Indiana’s Pork Producers Association), recently noted:

It’s not coming from animal rights activists who think everyone should become vegetarians or from environmentalists who think the only way to save the world is by eliminating modern farming practices.  It’s coming from right across our road… our neighbors with whom we have lived beside for many years. There’s an increase in community activism fighting the expansion of livestock production.  It may not have hit your community yet, but don’t be surprised if you, or a fellow pork producer who’s applied for a permit from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM), find your quiet neighbors have turned into activists leading the charge to stop your operation.

Link.

Reports are coming in from Frankfort, Indiana about the results of a study commissioned by Clinton County on the feasibility of converting how waste into power:

The report delivered to county commissioners and council members on Monday was the result of an eight-month, $75,000 study paid for by the city of Frankfort, Clinton County and the federal government.

The plan would hinge on a $5.5 million biorefinery that would convert waste piped in from hog farms into methane gas and carbon dioxide gas. The gases would power generators that would send power back to the farms and homes, said Gina Sheets, economic development director for the Clinton County Chamber of Commerce.

Link (Star Press).

I wonder if these guys have found something better that what Marcia reported on in this story in the Indiana Law Blog on a California plan to turn pig manure into power that may have sounded good on paper, but:

With a folksy delivery, the Orange County businessman promised cutting-edge technology, a respected engineering firm and tax-exempt financing to extract methane gas from mountains of manure and use it to generate enough power to light a small city.

"He told me categorically that we would get our money back with interest and that the project was as good as gold," said Shmuel Erde, a Beverly Hills lender.

What Moriarty and his business partner, Wayne Stephens, didn’t tell Erde and numerous others who altogether invested more than $10 million was that their company, Chino Organic Power Inc., had no licensed technology, no equipment, no permits — not even a guaranteed supply of manure.

Although manure-to-electricity plants have been used on a small scale to turn water-polluting cow waste into power, they are not particularly cost-effective and have never produced close to the amount of electricity Moriarty envisioned, documents and interviews show.

(Quote from a story in the LA Times)

There are lots of people producing electricity out of manure today. The trouble is doing it on a large scale and making it cost effective. A livestock producer can purchase a digester for about $300,000 that will produce enough electricity to power about 75 homes, enough to power a small livestock operation and still have some electricity left over to sell. However, while such a system might work well in some operations, as the manure digesters use bacteria to break down the manure into methane, manure produced by livestock dependent on antibiotics will not work as the antibiotics kill off the bacteria. (Reference: Farm Credit Canada: Manure to Electricity). There are lots of projects already in operation using biogas (like the Dairyland Power Cooperative using landfill gases and Canada’s IMUS pilot program: IMUS: Integrated Manure Utilization System (PDF)), but most of these large scale projects take major government grants/investment, as the cost per megawatt out paces traditional plants (coal, nuclear) (Source: Fifth Power Plan Summary and Action Plan (PDF) estimating cost at $60 per megawatt-hour).

Fibrowatt a UK based company is building a huge 50 megawatt facility in Minnesota to generate electricity from incinerating poultry waste. This would be the 1st US plant for the company, and it too is being touted as a "green" source of electricity, but not everyone is happy with this method.

Madison County, the site of the struggle between a hog CAFO and Elwood Concerned Citizens, is set to consider another special use permit for a hog CAFO. However, Justin Schneider reports that this one should be less controversial than the last one:

Representatives of Simmermon Farms Inc. have requested the special use for 366 1/2 acres on the south side of County Road 300 North between County Road 600 West and County Road 700 West in Jackson Township. The property is zoned agricultural.

“What they’re doing is somewhat different from what we saw before,” said board member William Hobbs. “He’s replacing a building that already existed and the net gain of hogs for that is 40 or 50. It’s not substantial by any means.”

Link (Herald Bulletin).

In Henry County, the Pal-Item is reporting today that IDEM will be coming to town Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. to talk about CAFO’s:

The meeting at the W.G. Smith Building in New Castle will explain Indiana’s permitting process and the regulatory program, said Amy Hartsock, IDEM spokeswoman. Information on the proposed and existing confined feeding operations also will be provided.

"Due to the level of interest in Henry County, we will clarify what we do. It’s an opportunity to learn more about the permitting program and to make concerns known so we can respond," Hartsock said.

Link.

Up in St. Joseph County, the Southbend Tribune is happy with the progress of a committee designing new local CAFO regulations:

CAFOs are a concern. A need to establish some local authority over them arose when a plan was put forth to build a giant dairy operation in southern St. Joseph County. It would have about 3,500 head of cattle and generate a mammouth amount of manure.

Link.

The editorial says that the work of Marc Nelson from the county health department was the key to reaching an agreement of the final recommendations.

Want to be a hog farmer, but don’t know where to start? Already a Hog farmer, but need to brush up on your skills? Check out Purdue’s Pork Industry Handbook , now available in the 2007 edition through the Purdue Extension website. The Waste Reduction Resource Center has a nice overview of hog CAFO operations up over here, for the broader public interested in industrial hog production.

While you are out and about, be sure to run through the toxic tour of rural Texas over at Toxic Texas. The linked page details the spoiled waterways of Erath County, home to 200 dairy feedlots.

Well, it’s had to say, but the Center for Disease Control and Prevention has a carefully worded statement on CAFO’s up on its website: Environmental Hazards & Health Effects: CAFOs . The official word:

People who work with livestock may develop adverse health effects, including chronic and acute respiratory illnesses and musculoskeletal injuries, and may be exposed to infections that travel from animals to humans. Residents in areas surrounding CAFOs report nuisances, such as odor and flies. In studies of CAFOs, CDC has shown that chemical and infectious compounds from swine and poultry waste are able to migrate into soil and water near CAFOs. Scientists do not yet know whether or how the migration of these compounds affects human health.

Pollutants possibly associated with manure-related discharges at CAFOs include:

• Antibiotics, which may contribute to the development of antibiotic-resistant pathogens

  • Pathogens, such as parasites, bacteria, and viruses, which can cause disease in animals and humans
  • Nutrients, such as ammonia, nitrogen, and phosphorus, which can reduce oxygen in surface waters, encourage the growth of harmful algal blooms, and contaminate drinking-water sources
  • Pesticides and hormones, which researchers have associated with hormone-related changes in fish
  • Solids, such as feed and feathers, which can limit the growth of desirable aquatic plants in surface waters and protect disease-causing microorganisms
  • Trace elements, such as arsenic and copper, which can contaminate surface waters and possibly harm human health

Researchers do not yet know whether or how these or other substances from CAFOs may affect human health. Therefore, CDC supports efforts to address these questions.

This was actually issued in March of 2004, so I wonder what the CDC thinks scientist "know" now, and what the CDC is doing to encourage scientists to find out.

The proposed CAFO regulations for Grant County are ready to be presented to the area plan commission, which is set to consider them next Monday:

If accepted in its current state, the proposal would require developers or owners of animal feeding operations, which house and feed a large number of animals in one area, to submit a plan for the farm; stay certain distances away from homes, schools, cities and towns and floodplains; and pay for several studies of the farm site.

Link (Chronicle-Tribune)

One interesting aspect of the proposed regulations is that, as the committee could not agree on municipal setbacks, the towns would get to set their own setbacks up to 2 miles under the proposal. The article notes that the proposal is likely to get lots of consideration by local policy makers, and some farmers are upset about the delays: Grant County imposed a moratorium on new CAFO’s pending the adoption of the new rules.

From Joel Palmer’s Livestock & Ag Waste Intellegence, comes a story of a statewide moratorium on the issuance of NPDES permits for CAFO’s in the state. Joel says that a Mississippi resident brought what is basically a nuisance suit over the odor coming from a neighboring hog CAFO. As part of the suit, the allegation was made that the system of statutes and rules used by Mississippi to permit CAFO failed to adequately protect the air and water of the state.

Joel cites a story in the Clarion-Ledger about the disputing neighbors:

Two Oktibbeha County men who were childhood friends both believe a landowner should have the free use and enjoyment of his property. But for more than a decade, they’ve battled each other in court over how one of them chose in 1996 to use his land as an industrial hog farm.

It’s a dispute that has landed the pair before the state Supreme Court in a lawsuit mired in hog manure, money and misery. The suit challenges the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality Permit Board’s 2002 decision to approve permits for the 7,000-head hog farm.

The article notes an interesting, Mississippi angle to this story, of the 63 hog CAFO ’s in the state in 2002, 57 of them were built in majority African-American communities.

The action on the permit is still pending before the state’s high court, so it appears that the moratorium, if there really is one, has been self-imposed at the administrative level, putting 40 pending permits on hold.

Throughout this part of East Central Indiana, there is a longstanding summertime tradition involving hitching up a boat to your large vehicle of choice, heading South on US highway 27 to Liberty, Indiana, and continuing on Indiana 101 to Brookville Lake for a day of water fun, and frequently, excessive drinking.

The tradition makes Indiana 101, and US 27 for that matter, a pretty dangerous stretch of road late in the day on Saturdays and Sundays. Indiana 101 is a real treat for us folks up here in Indiana’s vast flat lands. It winds its way through real hills and dales as it heads through Indiana’s hill country towards the ever hilly landscape in Kentucky. "Scenic" is one word for this route, but state officials (and probably most of the emergency personnel along the route) call it dangerous.

So, 2 years ago, the Indiana DOT announced a 20 Million Dollar project to take out some of the bite of the 44 curves and several hills in hopes of making the route less deadly. If you’ve traveled the route recently, you would have noticed that work was already underway on the massive project. But somewhere along the lines, somebody wised up:

The Indiana Department of Transportation has abandoned the $20 million upgrade announced two years ago, saying the plans wouldn’t make the road safer. Citizen concerns over land requirements and changing the road’s scenic nature were also factors in the decision, INDOT spokesman Will Wingfield said.

Link (Pal-Item).

Indiana Pork, an association of Indiana’s pork producers and the local affiliate of the National Pork Board (NPB) is currently conduction a poll on Gov. Daniels’ vision for the future of Indiana’s pork industry (thanks to a reader who sent this link along:

Do you agree with the goal of doubling Indiana pork production?

Last I checked, the poll was running 42 in favor to 36 opposed. Of course, it is posted on a pork industry web site.

Randolph County’s meeting on local CAFO limits yesterday reported turned into a theoretical discussion about which arm of county government should be making the decision on approval of a new CAFO. Either that, of a turf war:

But the discussion turned into a confusing back-and-forth conversation between county attorney John Tanner and APC attorney Bob Oliver about exactly how the county can impose those restrictions, who has the jurisdiction to establish or enforce them and which group should have the final say when a farmer wants to build a CAFO in Randolph County.

Link (Star Press). The committee studying a CAFO ordinance just wanted a little guidance on the issue, but an hour passed without any guidance being given:

County Commissioner Ron Chalfant asked APC board President Mike Wickersham which option the board preferred. And that’s one question the APC board hasn’t taken to a vote.

Chalfant asked, "What’s your recommendation? Is your recommendation that CAFOs live and die with area planning?"

Wickersham said personally, he thought the 13 members of the APC board better represented the broad population of the county, as opposed to the three members of the county commission.

Randolph County is not the only County considering local regulation of CAFO’s. I mentioned St. Joseph County and Grant County yesterday, and now Jay County is stepping into the issue as well. Its approach was to hire an outside firm to make recommendations for $19,000.00:

The commission recently approved an agreement with Ball State University’s Office of Building Better Communities. Richard Heupel — ex-director of the Jay County Economic Development Commission who is now employed by the Ball State office — said his group will look at the county’s comprehensive plan and zoning regulations, and submit a report summarizing the county’s options and obligations by the end of the year.

Link (Star Press). The move by the planning commission still requires approval from the county commissioners.

As Grant County prepares to finalize its recommendations for changes to its zoning code to deal with the influx of CAFO’s, and Randolph County’s committee studying the same issue is set to meet today, in South Bend, St. Joseph County it close to a final draft:

Marc Nelson, environmental health manager for the Health Department, said he expects to finish a draft of the ordinance this week. It would regulate confined animal feeding operations, or CAFOs.

The draft will be based on a summer-long discussion by a committee of more than 20 people with various perspectives, including some CAFO advocates and some who are concerned about the operations.

Link (South Bend Tribune)

The proposed ordinance will deal with the usual issues: setbacks from residences and manure spreading methods.

From the Muncie Star Press:

Members of a committee studying possible local controls for Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) and Confined Feeding Operations (CFOs) will meet with the Randolph County Board of Commissioners on Monday to discuss the group’s progress.

That discussion is scheduled for 3 p.m. in the commissioners room at the Randolph Center for Family Opportunity, 325 S. Oak St

Link

The committee considering changes to the zoning code to cope with incoming CAFOs heard from Dennis Lasiter, a technical environmental specialist from IDEM on the issue of Grant County’s countless abandoned gas wells dotting the county, and the threat to groundwater contamination these wells may pose if a CAFO is located adjacent to them:

"We’ve never encountered this problem before," Lasiter said. "We’re unaware of any county health department or IDEM having encountered a farm with contaminated groundwater where wells are densely placed. It hasn’t happened, and I hope it never happens."

He said IDEM has talked several times with Vreba-Hoff, the company that wants to build the dairy near Van Buren, about exploring below the surface of the site.

"We talked about an on-site engineer (during construction), and they were receptive," Lasiter said. "We talked about using a sub-surface radar device, and we’re still waiting for their consulting firm to get back with us on what they’re doing to provide additional assessment."

Lasiter also said that compared to other counties, animal feeding operations’ presence is very small in this area. He said there are 16 permitted farms, three of which are big enough to be considered CAFOs, in Grant County. By comparison, Wabash County has 105 permitted farms.

Currently, there is no requirement in state of local law for a developer to look for the old wells, or even notify the state if they encounter one. You only have to notify the DNR if you decide to try to cap an old well.

One aspect of the amended zoning provision under consideration is a requirement for the CAFO developer to hire a licensed engineer, selected by the county, to conduct a geological survey of the proposed site and inspect the installation of the proposed manure lagoon liner.

Link  (Chronicle-Tribune).

Wabash Environmental Technologies, LLC, received a NPDES permit to take pharmaceutical manufacturing wastewater, treat it, and discharge it into the Wabash River. The permit required the company to test the water coming in and going out, and set limits on pollutants in both. The company had to submit to the results of the testing to IDEM. Allegedly, when the operator found that the results violated the pollutant limitation, he started altering the reports:

Derrik Hagerman, president and owner of Wabash Environmental Technologies LLC, was indicted Wednesday on 36 felony violations of the federal Clean Water Act for creating false reports of analytical results of wastewater discharged into the Wabash River.

Hagerman faces a maximum of 72 years in prison and up to $900,000 in fines. Each violation carries a penalty of up to two years in prison and a fine up to $250,000, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Steven DeBrota and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney David Mucha, who are prosecuting the case.

Link (Tribune-Star)

It has been almost 3 months since the Richmond Civil Rights Commission announced to the public that is was investigating a local employment placement firm, Bane Specialty Service, Inc., and its principal, David Bane, for engaging in racially discriminatory activities. The original Pal-Item Article: Report: Firm did racial profiling. At the time, I questioned the public announcement of the investigation, as the impact on the firm and owner would be immediate, but the opportunity for vindication would have to wait for this “investigation” to be completed and charges to be levied.

Mr. Bane and his firm, after suffering for months under the cloud of pending allegations, have struck back. The Pal-Item reports today that Mr. Bane and his firm have sued the Commission and its members for defamation in the Montgomery County, Ohio Court of Common Pleas. The article can be found here: Businessman Sues City for Defamation. The Pal-Item’s new format adjustments permit people to comment directly on online articles, so be sure to check out the bubbling discussion on the controversy on the “Story Chat.”

The Pal-Item, in another adjustment to the online world, posted the PDF scan of the complaint. you can find it here. It appears to have been filed back on August 23, 2006.

I am curious, from a legal perspective, about the choice of suing an Indiana City in the State of Ohio. The lawsuit claims that the commission sent a letter making claims of racial discrimination to the Ohio Civil Rights Commission in Montgomery County, and this might give the Ohio court jurisdiction. However, most of the injury to Bane came from the initial public disclosure of the ongoing investigation, which occurred in Richmond.

If you have not been checking Joel David Palmer’s site Livestock & Ag Waste Intelligence , you are missing out on some of the best nationwide coverage of CAFO related issues. Recently, Mr. Palmer has covered some of the following:

High powered commission to investigate public impacts of CAFOs:

Some aspects of the current animal production system have created new challenges regarding human health, rural communities, and the environment. Concerns are centered on the emergence of food-borne diseases, antibiotic resistant bacteria, air and water contamination from animal waste, significant shifts in social structure and the economy of many farming regions, as well as issues of animal health.

The Commission includes former Kansas Governor John Carlin, former USDA Secretary Dan Glickman, actress and environmental activist Darryl Hannah, and Cargill Meat Solutions Corporation president Thomas Hayes, among others. A Reuters article provides additional details.

Cattlemen Opine on Proposed EPA Rule:

The very basis for federal regulation of water quality, discharges into public water sources, NCBA finds problematic, saying that "discharge" has not been adquately defined for CAFOs: "The EPA cannot expect producers to know if they have a discharge unless the term is defined. In addition, states must know the answer to this question before they can promulgate appropriate regulations."

Tropical storm threatens wastewater lagoons in Eastern US:

An article in the News & Observer, North Carolina, US, describes impacts of tropical storm Ernesto on animal feeding operations that manage wastes in liquid form. After more than a foot of rain in some regions and with more on the way, many wastewater storage lagoons are filled to the brim and in danger of overflowing or breaching, although no spills have yet been reported.

Gloves come off in editorial about proposal to exempt CAFOs from Superfund Regulations:

The Eugene Register-Guard, newspaper of record for highly-agricultural Lane County in Oregon, US, addresses the issue with a strongly-worded editorial condemning the notion that CAFOs should be exempt. The paper further argues that all other laws concerning the environmental regulation of livestock agriculture should be strengthened and more vigorously enforced than at present. Principal concerns are inadequate storage of manure and wastewater, and land-applications of this material at times or in quantities that cannot be assimilated and recycled by growing crops.

2 republican members of the Indiana House of Representatives, in reelection campaigns, recently called on IDEM to increase inspection personnel in East Central Indiana. The call from Tom Saunders and Bill Davis was responded to by IDEM:

A request that the Indiana Department of Environmental Management increase their monitoring of confined feeding operations in the state is something IDEM is willing to consider. Bruce Palin, Assistant Commissioner in the Office of Land Quality at IDEM says that currently the agency’s inspection resources are based on the number of facilities that need to be inspected in the different areas. “If there is a need to re-evaluate our current allocation based on an increase in the number of facilities, it is certainly something that we would be willing to take a look at,” Palin said.

Link  (Brownfields)

The committee working to make recommendations to Grant County area plan Commission on changes in the zoning code to deal with CAFOs is focused on setbacks, and while some have settled on a restrictive 2 mile setback from residences, others on the committee far that the result would be too restrictive:

By law, officials cannot put in place an ordinance that would prevent animal feeding operations from locating in Grant County, said Tanya Ford, former executive director of the Area Plan Commission. Ford has taken a job at Taylor University, but she is staying on to advise the committee until its work is complete.

When [Grant County councilman Myron] Brankle questioned how vulnerable the county would be to lawsuits, Ford asked Fort Wayne attorney Jon Bomberger, who specializes in zoning, for his opinion.

"While you might have other rationale for the setbacks from residences at whatever distances those are going to be, there could be a case where someone else might question that decision based on the fact that the distances effectively prohibit that application by regulation," Bomberger said. "It would certainly be a danger to proceed unless you have good, sound reasons for those requirements."

"We’re going to be sued," Ford said to Brankle as the committee continued to discuss the matter. "I don’t want to waste taxpayer dollars for a suit I know is going to happen."

However, setbacks appear to be where the committee is headed:

As the meeting came to a close, the majority of committee members wanted to require that animal feeding operations be built at least 2 miles from a food processing plant and the corporate boundary of a city or town; at least half a mile from a school; and at least a quarter of a mile from a public park or building, residence or public water supply.

Link  (Muncie Star Press).

Local author Jean Harper noted this week (in one of her as always excellent pieces: Link), that a new study has Indiana’s actual school dropout rate is 13%, making it the highest in the country. Jean goes on to link that statistic to her perception of a distinctive lackadaisical attitude among us inhabitants that drives us, not towards learning, betterment, and general improvement of the human condition, but rather towards the goal of being able to just hang out for the duration.

She also ponders if this attitude was behind Indiana’s recent move to legalize most forms of fireworks, giving us the tools to make every night a night to celebrate. She had this thought after a long day at work Thursday, getting ready to head off to sleep to get ready for another long day of work on Friday, when the sound of fireworks interrupted. I too heard those fireworks as I happened to be on the same side of town that night. I was delivering an exam in my real estate class at IU East. The popping was loud enough to be distracting, even inside the building, and I wondered, "September 7th? What’s the occasion?"

I don’t know if Jean’s musings are correct, but in any event, the dropout rate is concerning. Friday morning I got an e-mail from media relations agent for a not for profit aimed at improving the quality of education, one classroom at a time. The e-mail was sent to me because of this blog: She is asking Indiana bloggers to run a post to advertise the business. I give them credit for being creative. My first reaction was to think no way, but the dropout rate story made me think it wouldn’t hurt to pass the link along.

So, I pulled up Guidestar and looked over the company’s 990’s enough to conclude that the company was a legitimate not for profit  (i.e. most of the money goes to the stated charitable purpose, donations are deductable). So here’s how it works. The company solicits projects from individual teachers, reviews them, edits them, and then posts them on its web site. Individual donors can then peruse the vetted projects and decide which specific project they want to support. Cool idea, and the company is providing a real service doing the fund raising for the teachers, and assuring donors that the money is actually going to something they intend to support.

So if you are (or know) a teacher,  get them a project. If you want to do something for education in your local school, get over to the web site and see what is going on.

The company is Donors Choose, and after 5 years of successful operation in states like New York, California, and the Gulf Coast, they are launching a campaign to start up the project in Indiana (Indiana Challenge). There are already several projects up from the state, so get over there and check them out.