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Monday, February 07, 2011

Environment - "Hearing Tuesday for manure storage bill"

The Richmond Palladium-Item reports today:

A bill that would regulate the on-ground storage of manure in Indiana will get a hearing in the Indiana House of Representatives on Tuesday.

House Bill 1134, sponsored by State Rep. Tom Saunders, R-Lewisville, will be heard by the House Agricultural and Rural Development Committee at 8:30 a.m. in Statehouse Room 156 C. * * *

Richmond environmental activist Barbara Sha Cox said residents from border counties, including Wayne, Union, Randolph and Jay, need to be represented at Tuesday's hearing. Manure is being stockpiled on the ground in Wayne County along U.S. 27 North, north of Union Pike, Cox said. Agricultural groups are also expected to testify about the bill, which would also regulate on-ground storage of in-state manure.

Manure coming into Indiana from western Ohio has become a concern to some eastern Indiana residents, after Ohio livestock farmers were offered new USDA incentives last summer to ship manure out of the Grand Lake St. Marys' polluted watershed.

Indiana currently has no rules to regulate the storage or application of manure produced by out-of-state confined feeding operations, according to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.

Manure runoff from fields around the shallow, 13,000-acre Grand Lake St. Marys has been blamed for its pollution. Toxic, blue-green algae blooming in the lake last summer made it unsafe for human contact, Ohio environmental authorities said.

House Bill 1134 would require manure to be incorporated into the soil. Any manure stockpiled for 72 hours or more would have to be covered or contained by a berm and appplied within 90 days.

The bill also establishes storage setbacks of 100 feet from property lines, 400 feet from homes and residential buildings, and 300 feet from surface waters and wells unless there is a barrier that directs run-off away from wells and surface water.

Cox said passing this bill is critical for the safety of Indiana's water supplies and residents.

For background, start with this Jan. 20, 2011 ILB entry.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on February 7, 2011 11:05 AM
Posted to Environment | Indiana Law