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Friday, August 08, 2008

Environment - Massive fish kill in Union City; Complaints of CAFO permit delay in Union County

Two CAFO stories today.

"Fish toll may reach 40,000 from manure spill" is the headline of a story today by Joy Leiker of the Muncie Star-Press. It begins:

UNION CITY -- A minimum of 10,000 fish have died, and that number could quadruple in the coming days as the Indiana Department of Natural Resources counts dead fish in the Little Mississinewa River after a hog manure spill.

As of Thursday afternoon, Rick Garringer, the DNR Conservation Officer for Randolph County, estimated 10,000-20,000 fish had died, and the total "could easily be twice that."

"It's killing all the fish," Garringer said, noting the number would be higher if the river's water was deeper and more heavily populated.

The dead fish span about seven miles, while the pollutants in the river extend up to nine miles, and include areas both north and south of Union City, as well as through Harter Park, the city's largest park.

Garringer said most of the dead fish are small, like minnows, but conservation officers also have counted catfish, bluegill and bass.

Rita Mangas estimates there are thousands of dead fish along the banks and in the river that crosses her family's property on Randolph County Road 500-N. Unaware that the DNR and Indiana Department of Environmental Management had been called to a hog manure spill several miles south of their home, Leon Mangas on Wednesday noticed fish trying to stand in the river's water and gasp for air. Hours later, the Mangas' son Rod noticed all the fish were dead.

"There's a pile and it stinks," Rita Mangas said. "If it's in our streams, what about our wells?"

Last weekend, Stateline Agri Inc. (also known as Stateline Farms and Kremer Family Farms) applied 27,000 gallons of hog manure to a field about a mile south of Ind. 32. Heavy rains Monday washed that manure off the field and into a drainage tile into the river, said IDEM spokeswoman Amy Hartsock.

"Attorney questions Union County's delay on CAFO permits" is the headline of a story today by Amy Tharp in the Richmond Star-Press. Some quotes:
LIBERTY, Ind. -- Four months after plans for a Harrison Township megadairy were announced, Union County still lacks a zoning ordinance governing the placement of mega livestock farms.

Now, a Fort Wayne attorney representing Liberty Dairy LLC is questioning the county's delay in issuing septic and building permits for the 2,500-cow concentrated animal feeding operation, Commission President Allen Paddock said.

County officials hoped to have a new livestock zoning ordinance in place before the dairy's building permit was issued, so it would be governed by the new rules.

The zoning ordinance approved in June by the area plan commission and the changes county commissioners recommended on July 28 are back in the hands of the Union County Area Plan Commission, Paddock said.

"We talked Monday about changing the setback between CAFOs to something less than eight miles, but (county attorney) Tom (Thompson) didn't recommend making any changes on Monday. He said we should go to the area plan meeting and if we wanted to make changes then, we could," Paddock said. * * *

The delay is frustrating to Concerned Citizens for Union County member and Area Plan Commission member Randy Hartman. Concerned Citizens wants a more comprehensive ordinance and a moratorium on building permits for CAFOS until the ordinance is approved.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on August 8, 2008 09:17 AM
Posted to Environment