Well, maybe not. The title of this post is the headline of the Pal Item article out today, reporting that IDEM Commissioner Thomas Easterly warns that the Union Go and De Groot CAFO’s face a “crackdown” over last week’s manure spills.

It makes for a good sound bite, and even makes it appear that IDEM is getting tough on sloppy CAFO’s. I think I’ll wait to see what, if any, action is actually taken by IDEM before making that conclusion.

Union Go says it put a dam on the creek to pump the manure out of it after the spill. I do not know anything about Sparrow Creek, but I imagine that water was flowing in it at the time of the spill, and I wonder how much manure they could realistically recovered from the creek.

Uh. . . where was I? Oh, yeah, CAFO’s. CAFO’s must meet stringent state standards to gain approval from IDEM in the form of a permit. Once issued, IDEM takes care to assure that construction occurs in accordance with these requirements, and carefully monitors these operations to assure that they are operated in accordance with the law. Because of these careful controls, we can rest assured that the Governor’s plan to dot rural Indiana with these intensified farming operations will not pose a threat to the health and well being of Hoosiers. In fact, these modern operations are so well run that there is no discharge of manure from these facilities.

There have been occasions in the past when some marginal operators have messed up and contaminated waterways, but those facilities do not use modern techniques. So it was no wonder that there was allegedly yet another spill from Johannes De Groot’s dairy. He has paid fines in the past for spills, building without a permit, and was even convicted for intimidating an IDEM inspector.

But what’s with the recently constructed and ultra modern Union Go Dairy inRandolph County? In last week’s heavy rains, it was cited for spilling manure into 2 miles of Sparrow Creek and failing to maintain 2 feet of freeboard in its 20-million gallon manure lagoon? Maybe IDEM commissioner Thomas Easterly has an answer:

“Indiana has stringent performance standards for the livestock industry that require operators and owners to prevent manure from impacting water quality,” Easterly said. “The majority of livestock operations in Indiana work hard to meets these … standards for storing and land-applying manure.”

Link (Pal-Item)

The article in the Pal-Item also noted that Tony and Ivonne Goltstein, the owners of Union Go, filed a permit notice with IDEM recently to expand the operation from 1,650 to 2,804 cows. I’d gamble that it will be approved.

The Pal-Item is reporting that Rep. Phil Pflum’s CAFO bill has passed the house:

“The bill allows for more local control and gives local officials a voice in decisions that will ultimately affect their communities,” Rep. Phil Pflum, (D-Milton) said in a release. Pflum is sponsor of the measure.

The bill passed 60-35 and will proceed to a conference committee for further discussion.

Link.

This would be House Bill 1197. The bill as amended has some good things (like inspection fees, regulation of manure handlers, setbacks, etc.), but also some nuggets for the livestock industry (like attorney fees and costs if they win a fight against a neighbor).