Walnut Grove CAFO Can Be Defeated
October 1, 2006
By Joe Miller
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Dear Friends:
Walnut Grove Dairy's May 3 application to create a 3500 head dairy Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) in southern St. Joseph County can still be defeated.
On Saturday I received a letter from Jerome Rud, Chief, Solid Waste Permits Section, Office of Land Quality, Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM). The letter indicated that IDEM will hold a public meeting at LaVille High School on October 11 to address issues related to CAFOs, including the proposed Walnut Grove Dairy CAFO (Farm ID# 6440). The next two paragraphs are reproduced from Rud's letter:
"IDEM has reserved space in the main gym at LaVille Jr.-Sr. High, 69969 U.S. 31 South, Lakeville, Indiana on October 11, 2006. A public meeting will be held from 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. The doors will open at 5:30 p.m. Information will be provided regarding Indiana's regulatory program and the public will be provided an opportunity to submit questions in writing for responses. An opportunity will also be provided for the public to submit written comments or concerns on the proposed facility.
Citizens who are interested in receiving information about the state's confined feeding regulatory program, or St. Joseph County confined feeding operations are invited to attend. This public forum will also serve to collect public comment regarding concerns related to any pending CAFO permit application in St. Joseph County. Please bring this matter to the attention of persons you believe may have interest."
As you can see from the above, the format for the meeting is highly controlled, with IDEM doing the speaking, and citizens allowed only to submit written questions and/or comments.
IDEM's Motives
My guess is that part of the motivation for the meeting is for IDEM to tout its recently announced program (South Bend Tribune, Sept. 28) to increase its monitoring of CAFOs and confined feeding operations (CFOs) during their first year of operation. Another part of the motivation is probably to promote the property tax "opportunities" created by CAFOs for counties, as recently occurred at a conference in South Bend (South Bend Tribune, Sept. 21).
If the above guesses are correct, it's important to remember that at a convention in early February, Tom Easterly, Commissioner of IDEM, indicated that "he would suspend enforcement of CAFO regulations for at least the next three years" (Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, Feb. 10). It's also important to note that the LaVille meeting is occurring at a time when "Indiana has a goal of doubling its pork production and encouraging the expansion of large animal-feeding operations in general" (FW Journal Gazette, Feb. 10).
http://www.takingdownwords.com/taking_down_words/2006/02/confined_animal.html
Why the CAFO Should Be Rejected
In my judgement, there's every reason to reject Walnut Grove's application to create a 3500 head dairy CAFO. If Walnut Grove is approved, it will threaten the safety of groundwater and surface water, release hazardous and other air pollutants, create respiratory and other health problems, create stench, degrade quality of life and property values, impair roads and bridges, etc. All this is well documented, and these and other issues have led the American Public Health Association, the Michigan State Medical Society, the Canadian Medical Association, and the National Catholic Rural Life Conference to issue resolutions calling for a moratorium on new CAFOs. Approval of Walnut Grove will also move our local agriculture just one more step in the direction of non-sustainability.
http://www.factoryfarm.org/resources/regulations/moratorium/
Despite the clarity of the above, it's very important to note that in making decisions about whether to approve or disapprove a CAFO application, IDEM focuses only upon issues related to the protection of groundwater and surface water, and EXCLUDES all other issues. Even based just upon issues related to water protection, however, Walnut Grove should be rejected. (A recent report also indicates that even in this area, Indiana regulatory agencies are not doing their job protecting groundwater and surface water from CAFO manure runoff.)
http://www.sjvgreens.org/current/foxes.shtml
I'll be at a conference in Minneapolis on October 11, and thus unable to attend the meeting at Laville Jr.-Sr. High School. I'm writing today to alert everyone about the meeting and to share all of the above, but also to share the letter (below) I submitted to IDEM on May 16 opposing the Walnut Grove CAFO application. The letter focuses on reasons based both upon statutory criteria and precedent to reject the application. Please feel free to use the contents of the letter in any way you feel appropriate in formulating your questions or comments for the meeting. If science and reason prevail, the Walnut Grove CAFO application will be rejected!
Best Regards,
Joe
Joe's Letter to IDEM Opposing Walnut Grove CAFO
May 16, 2006
Confined Feeding Program - IDEM
100 North Senate Avenue
MC 65-45
Indianapolis, IN 46204-2251
Dear IDEM Representatives,
I am writing to strongly recommend that the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) reject the CAFO Construction Application (Log # 6440) of Walnut Grove Dairy, LLC to develop a 3500 head dairy CAFO in Union Township, St. Joseph County, Indiana. While there are many well documented reasons to reject the application, I will focus only on reasons related to criteria that fall within IDEM's purview - - either by statute or by precedent.
1. Reasons to Reject the Application Based Upon Statutory Criteria
Common sense and guidelines published by CAFO proponents such as the University of Missouri Agricultural Extension Office suggest that CAFOs should not be built "on a flood plain or on sites with a high water table." Yet that's exactly what Walnut Grove proposes to do. Approximately half of the proposed site is within a FEMA identified 100-year flood plain, and most of the 15 soil types found on the site are totally unsuitable for a 3500 head dairy CAFO.
On February 15, 2006, Dr. Darrell I. Leap, a hydrogeologist from Purdue University, made a presentation at a Community Meeting at LaVille High School to citizens, St. Joseph County Commissioners and Council members, a representative of IDEM, and representatives of Walnut Grove Dairy. (All quoted comments in this and the next 6 paragraphs are from a report prepared by Dr. Leap about that meeting.) At that meeting Dr. Leap reported that 7 of the 15 soil types on the proposed site have a seasonal high water table of 0-1 feet, and 4 of the 15 have a seasonal high water table of 1-3 feet. Dr. Leap also reported that 12 of the 15 soil types have "severe" engineering limitations for septic absorption, and 9 of the 15 soil types have "severe" engineering limitations for the construction of sewage lagoons.
Based upon the above, Dr. Leap noted that irrigation of the soils on the proposed site "with waste water or liquid manure will not be practicable because of the high seasonal water table and frequent saturation of the soils. Irrigation increases the downward hydraulic gradient and therefore, can be expected to increase flow of water and contaminants downward and perhaps into the aquifers. Overland flow over the surface and just below the surface can be expected in conditions of high water tables with added irrigation water. This runoff will find its way to the ditches and other streams the ditches feed." (Re the last point, during his presentation, Dr. Leap indicated that most of the site "is very poorly drained with surface drainage to the south via the East and West Branches of the Bunch Ditch...Both branches converge into one ditch that joins the Yellow River...This river then flows southwesterly to join the Kankakee River.")
Dr. Leap also noted that the waste-disposal practices of Walnut Grove Dairy may increasingly threaten the capture zone of the Lakeville well field. More specifically, according to Dr. Leap [i.e.,the next three paragaphs]:
"It is not known at this time if the zone of capture of the Lakeville well field extends to this area. Extent of capture zones and directions of flow are no longer available to the public after 09/11/01 due to the fear of terrorists contaminating public water supplies. The IDEM personnel will have to determine if the capture zone of Lakeville is at risk from the Walnut Grove Dairy and its waste-disposal practices.
It should be noted from the potentiometric map by the IDNR that the gradient increases just west of Lakeville and ground water therefore naturally flows to the west. Lakeville wells will likely obtain more water from the area east of its well field where the potentiometric surface is higher than that from the west where it is lower.
Therefore, it is very possible that the area of concern, just 2.5 miles east-southeast of the city of Lakeville could be a contributing area of not only water to the aquifers below, but also potential contaminants as well if waste is put on the fields."
All of the above considerations are reflected in Dr. Leap's closing conclusion that the proposed "site of the Walnut Grove Dairy is not suitable for a planned 3500-cow dairy, let alone [potential] expansion of operations."
Vreba-Hoff Dairy Development Corporation claims that Walnut Grove Dairy will be a "zero discharge facility." The proposed site is already subject to frequent and almost annual flooding according to local residents. This flooding will be vastly increased if approximately 30 acres of the site is turned into hard surfaces as proposed. The increased flooding will also create extensive on- and off-site pollution as storm water interacts with manure spills, malfunctioning lagoons, etc., to create extensive manure and silage leachate pollution.
2. Reasons to Reject the Application Based Upon Precedent
The hydrogeological unsuitability of the site for a 3500 head dairy CAFO, plus the need to responsibly manage and contain all the toxins, pathogens, excess nutrients, etc., in the manure and leachate created on the site, leads me to my second set of concerns: The repeated environmental violations of the company (Vreba-Hoff Dairy Development Corporation) that will build and operate Walnut Grove Dairy.
The Indiana Department of Environmental Management exercised due diligence and excellent judgment in July, 1997, when it used Indiana's "Corporate Good Character Law" to deny the permit application of Chemical Waste Management, Inc. to expand a hazardous waste landfill in Fort Wayne. The Good Character Law stipulates, in part, that a permit application may be denied if "the applicant has knowingly and repeatedly violated any state or federal environmental protection laws" during the preceding five year period, and thus demonstrated poor corporate environmental stewardship.
http://www.newrules.org/environment/ingoodcharacter.html
While Indiana's Corporate Good Character Law was written to apply to companies seeking a solid or hazardous waste permit, dairy CAFOs also release enormous quantities of hazardous chemicals, pollutants, and pathogens. Thus, by both logic and precedent, and consistent with IDEM's mission, the corporate environmental track record of an applicant for a CAFO permit should be subject to the same scrutiny as the corporate environmental track record of an applicant applying for a solid or hazardous waste permit. The consequences of poor corporate environmental stewardship are of enormous magnitude in both cases. Promises and assurances on an application mean little if an applicant has a track record of poor environmental stewardship. And that's exactly the record established by Vreba-Hoff Dairy Development Corporation during the last five years.
One doesn't have to look hard to discover the extensive trail of federal and state environmental violations and fines racked up by Vreba-Hoff during the last five years. By way of illustration, during just the period July, 2004, through October, 2004, the following are some of the reports that appeared in the media:
- Dayton Daily News, Greene Co., OH (7/11/04):
"In the past three years, the Ohio Division of Wildlife has linked 15 manure spills statewide to dairies developed by Vreba-Hoff Dairy, seven of them in the past six months. Two spills killed fish."..."In the wake of mishaps at dairies across the Midwest, Vreba-Hoff has come under increased scrutiny from state and federal regulators..." - Cleveland Plain Dealer, Cleveland, OH (8/1/04):
"In southern Michigan, a citizens group has documented illegal manure discharges at all 10 dairies built by Vreba-Hoff. In the last four years, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality confirmed more than 100 violations and discharges, including fish kills, and filed lawsuits against two of the dairies. Both have been asked to install sewage treatment plants, a plan that Vreba-Hoff rejects." - Toledo Blade, Toledo, OH (10/27)04):
"Four more northwest Ohio dairy farms, all built by Vreba-Hoff Dairy Development Corp., have received U.S. EPA findings of violations and administrative orders to make changes to prevent contamination of creeks and ditches. That brings the number of Vreba-Hoff-designed dairies receiving EPA orders this fall to 16. It is thought to be the last of the orders resulting from an EPA tour of Vreba-Hoff-designed dairies in Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana that began about a year ago, an EPA spokesman said."
AND (expanding upon the above described EPA orders)
- Muncie Star-Press, Muncie, IN (10/27/04:
"Sixteen Indiana, Ohio and Michigan dairy CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations) built by Vreba-Hoff Dairy Development have been ordered by the U.S. EPA to correct numerous alleged violations of the Clean Water Act. The runoff or discharge of silage leachate or juice which can be a stronger water pollutant than raw human sewage was a common problem at the farms. Other alleged violations included damaged, weedy or eroded manure lagoons, and failure to address the potential for storm water to cause manure and silage leachate pollution."
I could go on, but the point is clear. The Walnut Grove Dairy CAFO construction permit application completely fails all statutory criteria for site, soil, water and waste management adequacy, and completely fails standards set by precedent -- good corporate character and environmental stewardship. The permit should be denied.
Please keep me apprised of your decision re this application.
Sincerely,
Joseph Miller, Ph.D.
Chair, Department of Psychology
Saint Mary's College
St. Joe Valley Greens, South Bend, IN