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Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Environment - "Ag panel weighs site restrictions on mega-farms"
Tuesday's House Agriculture and Rural Development Committee meeting is the subject of a story today by the AP's Rick Callahan. Some quotes:
bill that would prohibit large livestock farms within 2 miles around schools, cities and towns drew criticism Tuesday from a state agricultural official and support from residents who said dust and odors from the farms make them ill.For background see this Feb. 5th entry, or type "CAFO" in the ILB search box.More than a dozen speakers addressed the House Agriculture and Rural Development Committee to testify on two bills, including one co-authored by Rep. Phillip Pflum, the panel’s chairman. His legislation is one of several bills before the General Assembly that target the state’s growing number of confined-feeding operations, the farms where thousands of hogs, dairy cows and poultry are raised in tight quarters.
Pflum, D-Milton, said his legislation is a “compromise bill” that aims to address rural residents’ concerns about the farms’ odors, dust and manure runoff while still permitting the continued growth of the state’s livestock industry. “It’s a bill I think we may be able to get passed. Would I like to go further than this, personally, yes. But this whole process is a compromise,” he said after Tuesday’s hearing.
His bill would prohibit construction of large livestock farms within 2 miles of a school, city or town. It would also would require certification of the farm workers who apply livestock waste to farmland as fertilizer – the most common method of disposing of the large amounts of manure the farms generate. In addition, it would permit only manure application by “incorporation or injection” below a field’s surface.
Pflum said that when it comes to regulating manure applications, “the counties are all over the map on how to regulate this, or not to regulate it. We need all 92 counties to operate under the same standards.”
Nellie Seal told the panel she has lived in rural Hancock County for decades and never complained about nearby livestock farms until large hog farms opened nearby. Seal said the farms’ smells and manure-tainted dust blowing off nearby fields now make her husband, a grain farmer, nauseous and sometimes force her to stay indoors. “This is an everyday fact that we live with,” said Seal, who was joined by other east-central Indiana residents who complained about nuisances posed by large livestock farms.
Andy Miller, the commissioner of the Indiana State Department of Agriculture, said the agency opposes Pflum’s bill, calling it a threat to the state’s billion-dollar livestock industry. He said Indiana’s hog and dairy industries grew 8 percent to 10 percent last year in response to consumers’ growing demand for pork and milk products. He said the state’s livestock farms take great steps to protect the environment from damage from the animal waste the farms generate. * * *
Pflum said his panel is expected to vote by next Tuesday on his bill, and one sponsored by Rep. Dave Cheatham, D-North Vernon. It would prevent state officials from authorizing a new confined-feeding operation without local health and zoning officials’ endorsement. Cheatham’s bill also would create procedures for local approval of the farms, including a system for appealing a farm’s approval or rejection.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on February 7, 2007 08:38 AM
Posted to Environment | Indiana Government | Indiana Law