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Thursday, September 29, 2011

Environment - "Homeowners say Wisconsin law favors big farms over them"

That is the headline to a long AP story yesterday by Dinesh Ramde of the AP. A few quotes:

MAGNOLIA, Wis. (AP) — John Adams can't see the nearly 3,000 cows on the dairy farm two miles from his Wisconsin home, but when the wind blows he can smell them.

The stench gives him and his wife headaches. They blame the big farm for contaminating their air and polluting the groundwater well they use for drinking, bathing and watering their garden. They no longer feel safe eating the vegetables they grow.

Adams also blames the state, which requires local governments to grant permits to large farms that meet certain limited criteria, even if there are additional environmental concerns. The rural farming town where he lives tried to impose stricter rules, only to be overruled by the state agriculture department.

Adams and seven neighbors, along with the town of Magnolia, sued the state and the farm in the first case of its kind to reach a state supreme court and the result could set a precedent throughout the Midwest. Similar cases have been filed in Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio and Oklahoma, and two juries in Missouri have already handed out multimillion-dollar awards to homeowners who complained of intolerable odors from so-called factory farms. * * *

After several lower-court rulings, the Wisconsin Supreme Court was asked to weigh in on whether state can prevent the town from holding the farm to a higher standard. Its decision is expected in about a month.

From Indiana, this Louisville Courier-Journal story yesterday by Grace Schneider, headed "Residents question swine farm plans at IDEM session in Corydon." The story begins:
Several dozen Harrison County residents stopped in Tuesday afternoon at an open house held by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management to provide information about a proposed 4,000-head swine farm expansion in the Elizabeth area.

While opponents of the proposed confined animal feeding operation, or CAFO, held signs in protest outside the entrance to the county's new government center in Corydon, three IDEM representatives stood inside a conference room passing out information and answering questions about the state's permitting and inspection process for the application by D. Livestock Inc.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on September 29, 2011 09:58 AM
Posted to Environment