Survey of State CAFO Policies from PEW Commission
Yesterday, the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production released a survey of state laws governing factory farming, a survey prepared along with the National Conference of State Legislatures. The survey is the warm-up for the release of the much-anticipated full report from PEW. From the pres release:
The survey highlights the patchwork of regulation from state to state, and in many cases, a complete lack of regulation in areas that are essential to protecting public health and the environment. While many states do have regulations beyond federal requirements, it is clear that the regulation has not caught up with the CAFO model of food animal production. Kentucky, for example, is contemplating whether or not to even continue regulating CAFOs. And other states, like New Mexico, have limited policies on animal feeding operations and rely on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate CAFOs in their states. What is actually being done to regulate CAFOs within the EPA delegated states is obscure. South Dakota refused to respond to the survey and Mississippi responded only minimally. It should be noted that all information requested from state agencies is supposed to be available to the public.
