The EPA published proposed rules in response to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals’ Waterkeeper Alliance case. The comment period on these proposed rules ended Monday.

One of the commenters was the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) which started out its comments as follows:

We strongly recommend that the USEPA withdraw the proposal for the voluntary option for CAFOs to certify that the CAFO does not discharge or propose to discharge. We believe that this option as proposed is seriously flawed. This provision appears to have been advanced by the lobbyists for the factory farms as a self-serving means of exempting factory farms from regulation, contrary to any other sector regulated under the Clean Water Act. Instead, we recommend that the USEPA refocus its efforts on clearly identifying the attributes that will constitute a discharge or proposal to discharge, and how these would be determined.

The whole comment is worth a read.

The state of Michigan has had a history of problems with CAFO’s including maga-dairy firm Vreba-Hoff which is bringing a dairy to Union County which I talked about Tuesday. MDEQ had an issue with alleged discharges of manure from some Vreba-Hoff dairies (remember, these dairies are “zero emission” facilities). your can read up on the problems MDEQ had with the dairy here and the settlement documents here. You can see a broader list of CAFO discharges in South Central Michigan at NoCAFOS.org.

Up in Benton County, CAFO must go through an approval process before the BZA. Last Night, they heard from witnesses speaking on behalf of Dutch dairyman Johan Zuurhout - who is seeking to install a 3,500 cow CAFO in the county:

About 80 people watched the proceedings in the Fowler Theater Monday night. Jim Hasser of Earl Park said he attended because the site planned for the farm is a quiet, crop-based section of the county.

“We’d just like to keep it like that,” Hasser said.

During the hearing, Don Shelmon, a Rensselaer attorney representing the petitioner, stressed Zuurhout’s experience with dairy farms.

“He and his family have been engaged in dairy farming his entire life,” he said.

Zuurhout, his wife and three children moved from the Netherlands to Benton County about a year ago.

Shelmon said Zuurhout owned, operated and later sold two dairies in the Netherlands. Zuurhout decided to relocate to the United States because in Europe farmers are issued permits that limit the amount they are allowed to produce.

Link (Lafayette Journal-Courier). As the article points out, this is but one of several large scale farming operations moving into the county.

Midwest Environmental Advocates along with FightingBob.com hosted a CAFO conference this past Saturday in Middleton, Wisconsin (Link). The keynote address was delivered by former Texas agriculture commissioner Jim Hightower. Here is his address:

The Pal-Item’s Union County beat reporter, Pam Tharp, reports that Greenmeadow Farms’ VP Tom Caldwell (3861 N Us Highway 27, Liberty, IN) announced at the county commissioners’ meeting that Vreba-Hoff is assisting in the installation of a 2,062 cow CAFO 5 miles north of Liberty on US 27. The facility is to cost $12 million, with an additional $6.5 million invested in the cows and equipment. It all sounds good:

Brian Bergen, agribusiness specialist for the Eastern Indiana Development District, said the development will have a substantial economic impact on the region and the county. Bergen estimated the facility’s regional annual impact at $31.2 million, based on taxes, payroll and per-cow spending of $13,000, which includes feed, medical care, goods and services and milk processing. Union County’s share of those numbers is estimated at about $16 million. The facility will create 20 to 25 new jobs at $10 per hour. It also will create demand for locally produced grain and provide opportunities to produce replacement heifers, Caldwell said.

Link.

The dairy will be run by a German couple, Frank and Baersel Achelpoehler of Bramstedt, under the name “Liberty Dairy, LLC.” The article reports that the diary has yet to submit its permit application to IDEM, but as this is Union County, no local approval is required beyond the building permit. Karen Miller of Vreba-Hoff says that the facility will be “designed” as zero discharge - this has sure worked out for the company before.

The new dairy will be constructed on Tom Caldwell’s old dairy farm, just south of Wayne County:

Why? Let’s ask the director of Randolph EDC, Greg Beumer:

Perception is reality. This moratorium sends a clear signal to the business world that Randolph County is not a friendly place to do business. You and I both know that’s not true, but that is the perception it creates. Let’s back away from CAFOs for a moment to find an example.

Link (Winchester News Gazette).

Beumer explains that the commissioners will be perceived as snubbing the powerful Ag businesses like Maxwell who have spent “millions” in the county to create “80 new jobs” in passing the CAFO ban. He goes on to offer an analogy in the popular field of wind farms:

If you were a top executive of a wind farm development company, would you invest $200 million dollars in Randolph County today to build a 100 megawatt wind farm? The question that would have to run through your mind would be, “What if I get half of my turbines built and suddenly a group of interested citizens voice opposition to my wind farm?” They might go to the commissioners and say, “We don’t like these wind turbines, they’re too big, they’re the wrong color and they use too much of our air. Air is a precious commodity and we need a study to see what impact these wind turbines are having on our air and the air for our children.” The county commissioners might agree, saying that, indeed, we do need an air study. While that’s taking place, let’s put a halt to all wind turbine construction in the county. I think you get the point.

Basically, what Beumer is complaining about we would call “representative democracy:” Corporations can doll out cash, but cannot vote, a “group of interested citizens” can.

Bill Richmond has a report on the 83rd annual Wilson Dinner on this past Saturday. Democratic candidates spoke at the event, including AG candidate Linda Pence - who accused Steve Carter of politicizing the AG’s office, and State Senator Sue Errington, who spoke on behalf of Hillary Clinton.

Of course, what drew my attention to this little political theater was the CAFO comments, this time from county commissioner candidate Larry Dungan:

Dungan said he sees a lot of things out there he doesn’t like and would like to make a change for local citizens. “I am in favor of CAFO (Confined Animal Feeding Operation) regulation and bonding,” he said. “I would like to see improvements to local infrastructure, especially county roads. I am a big believer in education and speaking your mind and expressing your beliefs.”

Link.

The comment period on the EPA’s new proposed regulations for CAFO’s expires today. If you want to go and read or leave comments, start here: Regulations.gov.

Last week, I talked about congressman John Dingle’s letter to the EPA questioning the new regulations. You can read this 14 page letter here.

Marcia, over at the Indiana Law Blog has today’s coverage of the Vreba-Hoff takeover of the troubled DeGroot Dairy in Huntington County:

The Environmental Protection Agency released a report in January 2007 that cited a former Vreba-Hoff-owned dairy near Fremont for violations of numerous environmental standards, including allowing illegal waste discharges. Vreba-Hoff sold the 39-acre, 900-cattle dairy farm to DeJong Dairy LLC, 5409 E. Ray Clark Road, in December 2004. And the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality has been in a legal tug of war with Vreba-Hoff for several years, filing a lawsuit in 2003 that resulted in a 2004 consent decree in which the company agreed to build an on-site waste treatment facility. Last year, the department asked a judge to hold the company in contempt of court for violating the decree, asserting that Vreba-Hoff was still failing to correctly dispose of manure. But Barry Sneed, public information officer with IDEM, said Vreba-Hoff is in good standing in Indiana. It owns two facilities in the state and is associated with 24 others. “We haven’t had problems with the new owner, and the new owner will fix problems that are there,” Sneed said. “Any time we can bring a facility into compliance and have future compliance as well, that’s kind of a win-win for us.” IDEM is reviewing a new permit application for construction projects at the dairy as well as a request for expansion. The facility will operate under the new name Andrews Dairy LLC. Lindsey said as an adjoining landowner he already received information that Vreba-Hoff wants to expand the herd size from 1,400 to 2,500. * * *

(Quoting the story in today’s Fort Wayne Journal Gazette by Niki Kelley).

Also, be sure to check the comments to my post yesterday in which a commenter points to several very odd aspects of IDEM’s decision to go with Vreba-Hoff at this juncture. This includes the fact that there is a pending action in Fulton County Common Pleas Court in Ohio brought against the Dutch dairy by the Ohio Attorney general asserting violations at 20 Vreba-Hoff dairies in Ohio:

In a 40-page complaint filed yesterday in Fulton County Common Pleas Court, Attorney General Marc Dann cited violations pertaining to stormwater issues dating to 1999 at dairies in Fulton, Henry, Wood, Defiance, Paulding, Putnam, Van Wert, Williams, Hardin, Marion, and Madison counties. The complaint seeks up to $10,000 a day per violation. In some cases, dairies neglected to get state permits for discharging stormwater. In others, they got them after the fact, when construction was either under way or finished - or else they violated the conditions of them.

(Article in the Toledo Blade by Tom Henry on July 31, 2007).

The action in Ohio is still pending - set for its 3rd pre-trial on April 10th.

The Pal-Item is reporting that the Union County area plan commission will meet on APril 14th to discuss CAFO zoning regulations. The Farm Bureau told the county that they needed to get something in place before "controversy erupts," and the county is shopping around for a template. Some folks are concerned:

The Union County commissioners received a letter Monday from a Union Township resident concerned about the impact of two CAFOs located on either side of her family farm. "Unknown factors such as air quality, water quality and visual environment affect our way of life," resident Juaneta Stout wrote. "Perhaps we should check and see why the hog set-ups moved from North Carolina to Indiana."

link.

Fort Wayne’s Wane TV is reporting that Dutch Dairyman Johannes DeGroot has resolved his longstanding difficulties with IDEM by entering a consent decree:

Under an agreement reached with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM), Huntington County dairy owner Johannes DeGroot and DeGroot Dairy, LLC, operating in Indiana since 2001, is barred from operating livestock facilities in the State of Indiana. The Agreed Order, signed by DeGroot Dairy, LLC, and IDEM, resolves all compliance issues currently in litigation and allows for the dairy’s sale and operation in compliance with strict environmental regulations.

Link. The agreement has DeGroot selling off his Huntington County CAFO dairy to Vreba-Hoff - who has committed to IDEM that it will alter the dairy to bring it into compliance. It will be called Andrews Dairy, LLC.

MORE: The agreement should end up here - check this link for the full history . . . .

Seth Slabaugh, over at the Star Press says the Randolph County plan Commission’s December 27, 2007 meeting, at which it approved a CAFO regulation that permitted CAFO’s on the vast majority of county property pushed the limits on Indiana’s open door law:

Allen Hutchison and nine other citizens filed complaints with Indiana Public Access Counselor Heather Willis Neal stating that the meeting room was packed to its capacity of 60 and that another 70 people had to wait in the hallway. They alleged violation of the Open Door Law.
Commission attorney Robert Oliver Jr. told Neal the commission had no knowledge or expectation that a large crowd would appear.

According to Neal, a public meeting location does not have to accommodate every member of the public who wishes to attend.

“While I cannot find the commission violated the letter of the law, it certainly came close to violating the spirit of the law,” Neal wrote in an advisory opinion. “When more people are excluded from a meeting than are admitted, the purpose of the Open Door Law is frustrated.”

She urged the commission to be mindful of the spirit of the law in the future.

link.

Dave Russell of Brownfields Ag News breaks the big story:

Heavy rain in parts of Indiana is causing some concerns for livestock producers with manure storage lagoons. Ryan Westerfeld, Agricultural Liaison for the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) tells Brownfield producers with a potential problem should contact IDEM immediately.

“They can call the spill line at 1-888-233-7745,” said Westerfeld. “They can provide technical assistance to the producer and explain some emergency actions that can take place.”

Westerfeld says options available to producers with potential problems include building a dike around the existing lagoon to control any overflow, or they could construct emergency storage, but before doing that the producer must contact IDEM. The emergency spill number again is 888-233-7745.

Link.

Now, some more cynical folks might ask, didn’t IDEM know about rain when it approved these CAFO’s?

According to Andrew Schneider, correspondent for the the Seattle PI, Michigan’s Rep. John D. Dingell, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee is wondering how the EPA decided it should take a pass on regulating air emissions from CAFO’s in light of findings by the EPA’s own scientists indicating that “hydrogen sulfide and ammonia from animal waste from huge factory livestock operations can be powerful pollutants with potentially serious health effects, such as acute respiratory irritation and damage to central nervous system.” More:

Rep. John Dingell’s Committee on Energy and Commerce, and the heads of two of the subcommittees - Reps. Al Wynn and Hilda Solis - have written EPA Administrator Steve Johnson to explain what is behind what the members call “this questionable exemption” to the toxic emissions reporting law.Dingell said: “It’s nothing more than a favor to big agribusiness at the expense of the public health and communities living near these facilities.” Wynn said: “It defies logic to exempt animal feeding operations from the Superfund and Emergency Planning Community Right to Know Act reporting requirements when the toxic air emissions from these operations can cause severe health effects in people, even death.”

Solis cautioned that without reporting requirements, local governments risk being unable to protect the health and environment of their communities.

Link.

Progressive journalists Steven Higgs and AMber Kerezman over at The Bloomington Alternative have been traveling around CAFO land of late, and are sending back dispatches. First stop is local CAFO central, Randolph County:

Kathryn Petry and Loretta Miller are Randolph County farm citizens who, like Allen and Judy Hutchison, live daily with the byproducts of CAFOs, most significantly but not exclusively, the vast quantities of manure that these “factory farms” produce. Seated on her plush sofa next to Miller, a CAFO visible just outside the window, Petry explained the factory farm system.

Surrounded by factory farms

Amber is blogging her experiences:

There is a lot I’ve yet to learn about Indiana’s environment and the government’s role in it all. But my naivete doesn’t frighten me. Hopefully, it affords me a clear perspective. I hope environmental veterans and newcomers alike will join the “Indiana Environment Revisited” journey with Steve and me as I become disheartened, angry, numb or whatever my reaction is ultimately.

I can say I’ve already begun to size up the farms I pass on State Road 37, though there is only one CAFO in Morgan County and none in Monroe. I’m also working toward keeping my pork consumption to an all-time low, though it rarely graces my plate as it is. Without having a knee-jerk reaction, I want to be more aware of the products I consume and where they come from. It’s a good exercise for me. But I can’t help thinking about the permanent infringement CAFOs represent for the Rex and Brenda Jones’s of rural Indiana. Talk about an invasion.

CAFOs in the morning, CAFOs at night

Amber talked about meeting local water advocate Barbara Sha Cox, among many other local folks. Be sure to stay tuned.

The EPA is seeking comment on additional options for inclusion in the rulemaking to respond to the changes required by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals decision in Waterkeeper Alliance et al. v. EPA. This action supplements the June 2006 proposal to revise the NPDES permitting requirements and Effluent Limitations Guidelines (ELGs) for CAFOs. The 2008 supplemental proposal will be open for public comment for 30 days. For more information on this supplemental proposal, including how to submit comments: EPA CAFO Rules

Randolph commissioners lift CAFO moratorium is the title of the Star Press update this morning. Apparently the commissioners met this morning and, after hearing from Jo0hn Tanner that Maxwell was right and the moratorium should have come through the plan commission before being passed by the commissioners, voted unanimously to repeal the moratorium. The ban only lasted from January 7, 2008, through today.

Kathryn Petry got a letter posted in today’s Pal-Item:

I received information from an AG liaison of IDEM that there are permits for 44 CAFOs, 228,000 hogs, 100,000 chickens and a dairy wanting to expand in Randolph County and at least three more hog CAFOs are pending. If this county is going to be suitable for anyone to live here, regulations must be made and enforced for the survival of the CAFOs and residents of the county. Families will not consider moving to this county when they are going to be next to a CAFO. What will happen to our schools, towns when we have more hogs than people?

Link.

As did Randolph County resident Rachel Carpenter:

I commend the Randolph County Commissioners for passing a moratorium on new CAFOs until community concerns can be addressed. I have heard many people who have initially been in favor of CAFO expansion say that they think we have enough for now. It’s time to wait and see how things go.

Maxwell Foods, the North Carolina company bringing 78,000 new pigs to Randolph County, has said over and over that they want to be good neighbors. Now they are suing the commissioners for expressing the concerns of the community. Is that being a good neighbor?

Link.

More CAFO action in Carroll County, Indiana:

Pasman’s Pleasant Dairy owned by Erik, 45, and Heidi, 47, Pasman, will join two operations in various stages of development - Optima Dairy near the Carroll-Cass County line in the northeast, and Boerman-Carroll Dairy near Cutler in the south.
Like the Boerman operation, Pasman’s owners come from Holland and chose Carroll County following several visits to the Midwest.

Link. (Herald Journal).

I loved the comments from the dairyman as to why he chose Indiana:

Pasman said Holland is such a small country - about a quarter the size of Indiana - that space is extremely limited. Space limits plus a government initiative to build tourism in Holland, were added incentives to relocate.

So, Holland wants to make itself attractive to tourist by keeping livestock operations in check (Pasman currently has 150 head of cattle in Holland): What does that say for Indiana? That we don’t care about our image, I guess. This dairy will be located on Pleasant Run creek which feeds into the “Mighty” Wabash, but with 2 pig farms already spreading manure in the neighborhood, maybe the cows will not be noticeable.

Senate Bill 200 cleared the Indiana House yesterday, and is headed to the Senate with the amendments - including Rep. Dvorak’s “good character” etc. amendments.

As I discussed Tuesday, the EPA is ditching plans to regulate CAFO air emissions (Washington Post story). This disclosure comes on the same week that the PEW Commission is set to conduct a congressional briefing on the issue of the impact on public health of confined feeding operations. This report has the Ag industry nervous - they have already started criticizing it, even though the report has net been issued yet.

The briefing will be done tomorrow in DC at 10:am in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, Room 406. IT will be conducted by John Carlin, Chairman, Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production, Executive-In-Residence, Kansas State Univ., former Archivist of the United States (1995-2005), former Governor of Kansas (1979-1987) and Bill Niman, cattle rancher, and founder of Niman Ranch.

Rep. Dvorak’s amendment to Senate Bill 200 passed yesterday on a narrow, party-line, vote:

Amendment 2 (Dvorak), prevailed; Roll Call 235: Yeas 49, Nays 47