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Sunday, January 23, 2005

Env't. - Owen Co. farm odor rankles neighbors

"Owen Co. farm odor rankles neighbors" is the headline to an AP story today in the Indianapolis Star website. Some quotes:

SPENCER, Ind. -- Neighbors of a farm with 1,000 hogs say they are tired of the smell, but county and state officials tell them the operation complies with regulations and that no state law governs foul odors.

Victor Bird has told officials that the odors from the farm force him to stay inside his house much of the time. "The air is so foul you can't go outside," Bird told Owen County's commissioners during a recent meeting. "We have true concerns about emissions coming from these buildings. The neighborhood was here first, then he built this confined feeding operation." * * *

Kaye Driskill, a compliance officer from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, said the farm met all regulations when she visited the farm in the fall. As for the odor, Indiana has no statutes regarding foul farm smells, The Herald-Times of Bloomington reported Saturday.

Residents can either try to convince county officials that the smell constitutes a public nuisance and take the case to court, or file a lawsuit themselves seeking direct damages from the source of the smell. * * *

Owen County Commission President Wiley Truesdel told Bird and other residents that his board cannot do anything to alleviate their concerns. "We've got to go by IDEM regulations. We can't just arbitrarily do something," Truesdel said. "We can't close down a hog farm, just like we can't move you out of your house. The only thing we can do right now is take this under advisement."

Contrast this with a story yesterday in the Star titled "Bolster state's ag sector: BioCrossroads analysis has blueprint for giant eco-parks that utilize Indiana crops." Some quotes:
Imagine the state being dotted with giant-sized industrial parks that turn crops into products like meat, ethanol and plastics -- while being a model of environmental responsibility.

The concept was among recommendations in a report issued Friday by BioCrossroads, the Indianapolis economic development nonprofit, and welcomed by the administration of Gov. Mitch Daniels. * * *

Study author Ron Meeusen, BioCrossroads' special projects director, and Ron Turco, a Purdue University soil microbiologist sitting on the committee, think a park would be so big that it might consume the equivalent of all the corn and soybeans raised in one to two counties.

Meeusen and Turco think a site could start with local officials zoning about 1,000 acres for a park. The Indiana Department of Environmental Management would issue permits in advance on the condition the businesses follow regulations.

More than a dozen companies may be involved in such a park. One scenario might involve buying grain from local farmers and feeding it to millions of hogs that are slaughtered next door.

Methane from the manure would be burned in a power plant that might supply electricity beyond the ag park, and the remaining biodegraded material would be returned to the soil as fertilizer.

See also this entry yesterday titled "EPA plan offers farms immunity from air pollution violations."

Posted by Marcia Oddi on January 23, 2005 02:53 PM
Posted to Environment