CAFO Politics
The Pal-Item has a good round up of the status of current CAFO legislation in the Indiana legislature today. Of special interest were the comments of Republican Tom Saunders, who co-sponsored one of the bills, on some political push-back he has felt:
Saunders said the bill got 62 votes in the House, so it had bipartisan support, but it’s not easy being a Republican supporting more regulation of agriculture.
“Our Republican caucus has several large hog farmers. Behind closed doors, I’ve taken some heat,” Saunders said. “There’s a lot of lobbying. Those who have been talking to (of the bill) have to keep it up.”
Link.
The article notes that the bill faces stiffer opposition in the Republican controlled senate. Robert Jackman, a state senator from Milroy, told Union County Farm Bureau legislative meeting that the 3 year moratorium was “toast,” and added annual fees were too burdensome. However, IDEM is said to need an additional 1.5 million to hire enough inspectors and run its program. Phil Pflum is still hopeful for a moratorium of some type.
