CAFO Politics
The Pal-Item reported on action in the Indiana House of Representatives yesterday on the CAFO bill:
State representatives Phil Pflum and Tom Saunders accepted amendments to help their bill regulating confined animal feeding operations move from the Indiana House Agriculture and Rural Development Committee on Tuesday to the House floor. Even so, the bill’s approval followed party lines, with seven Democrats in favor and five Republicans opposed.
Link. I guess I should have known that this would be a Dems vs Reps issue at the state house. That strikes me a s funny because out here in the sticks, people’s opposition to CAFO’s tends to be more related to their distance from a CAFO than their political leanings. . . .
The amendments seem to be pretty significant:
Pflum’s bill, which originally required a two-mile setback for CAFOS from schools, cities and towns, was amended to reduce the setback to within one mile of schools, health care facilities and licensed childcare centers. Testimony from the Department of Agriculture against the two-mile limit and its impact on the growing pork industry led Pflum to accept the shorter distance, he said. “This is as far as I’m going to go,” Pflum said of the amendments to the bill. “This is what I’ll present on third reading to the House and let the chips fall where they will. We have a chance to do the right thing here.”
