EPA Places Foxes in Charge of the Chicken Coop
July 13, 2006
by Joe Miller
............................In a previous post to my newsletter (July 1), I noted that at the end of January, 2006, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency signed agreements with almost 2700 factory farms that would exempt them from all but the most minimal fines for violation of federal air emission laws during the next four years.
http://www.organicconsumers.org/Toxic/epa020506.cfm
I also noted that now the U.S. EPA wants to let factory farms make their own decision about whether they are discharging animal fecal waste into waterways, and whether they need to have a federal permit for such discharges. Public comments on the proposed changes are due by August 14.
- http://www.grist.org/news/muck/2006/06/30/cafo-waste/index.html
- http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/3372
- http://cfpub1.epa.gov/npdes/afo/aforule.cfm
The assaults on the quality of water have now percolated down to the state level in Indiana. According to an article by Thomas Healy in the July 2 online edition of The Bloomington Alternative, on May 10 the Indiana Water Pollution Control Board suspended for three years the compliance deadlines that CAFO operators must meet to protect groundwater and surface water from manure runoff. The Board's abrogation of its responsibilitities further increases the urgency for counties throughout the state (including our own) to create local ordinances allowing the review and approval or disapproval of new CAFO applications.
To give you a more precise feel for what the Board did, I've pasted the first two sections of Healy's article below. The full article is available online.
http://www.bloomingtonalternative.com/subscribers/news.php?topicid=1023
It's more and more urgent everyday that we react to the irresponsible, destructive actions that are occurring at our federal and state levels (in this and many other areas). Good sustainable agricultural options exist. We need to embrace them, and to reject the industrial, nonsustainable, and health, environment, and community destroying factory farm rules and practices that are being proposed.
Joseph Miller
Dept. of Psychology
51 Madeleva
Saint Mary's College
Notre Dame, IN 46556
Office Phone:
574 284-4532 (4534)
Fax:
574 284-4716
Governor's plan smells like pork
July 2, 2006
The Bloomington Alternative (Online Edition)
http://www.bloomingtonalternative.com/subscribers/news.php?topicid=1023
by Thomas P. Healy
Gov. Mitch Daniels’ proposal to double pork production to stimulate rural Indiana economic development likely will result in degraded water quality.
“Promises Broken: CAFOs in Indiana,” a new report prepared by the Hoosier Chapter of the Sierra Club, details the impact an increase in Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) will have on the Hoosier State’s waterways.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Animal Feeding Operations (AFOs) are agricultural operations where animals are kept and raised in confined situations. Qualification as a Concentrated AFO is based on the type and number of animals a facility confines and the amount of pollutants it discharges to surface water.
Shondra Zaborowski, chair of the club’s Conservation Committee, says the report should make it clear that the Daniels administration has no regard for the quality of Indiana waters or rural areas.
“On May 10, 2006, the Indiana Water Pollution Control Board decided to modify the wastewater discharge permitting rules designed to protect waters of Indiana from manure runoff,” she says, citing the report. The suspension lasts for three years and will extend the Dec. 31, 2006, compliance deadline CAFO operators faced for implementing soil conservation plans.
The report sharply criticizes Gov. Daniels for “lowering the standards for environmental protection to levels unacceptable to any seasoned farmer who cares about the land.”
***
Zaborowski says the Board’s suspension of the permit compliance deadlines comes at a critical stage as nearly 300 Indiana CAFOs with National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permitS were in the process of establishing and implementing Soil Conservation Practice Plans (SCPP).
“SCPPs are grounded on sound agricultural practices generally recognized as prudent and practical,” she says. “Promises Broken” states: “An SCPP consists of five mandatory and three optional elements that include a map of the soil where manure would be applied, a description of the soil, the slope of land at application sites, identification of practices to reduce erosion and control runoff, and identification of methods to minimize nutrient leaching.”
CAFO operators were preparing to meet the requirements until the Daniels administration made the effort unnecessary, Zaborowski notes.
The Sierra Club Hoosier Chapter evaluated the annual reports for 2005 that CAFO operators were required to submit to the state by Feb. 15, 2006, and found the following.
- Three CAFOs failed to submit any report. They are: Hoosier Park in Madison County, Dirks Farm in Orange County, Buening Family Hog Farm in Rush County.
- 16 CAFOs submitted their annual reports more than 5 days late.
- Of the 296 facilities that submitted a required report, 201 reports had some form of error.
- Among the 368 distinct errors identified: 95 did not identify the hauler of manure transferred offsite, 63 did not identify the water body affected by a discharge, 23 reported a discharge to state waters in 2005 (14 of those 23 did not explain the discharge as required by law), 9 failed to report the amount of manure generated, 8 reported applying manure to more acres than they owned.
***
St. Joe Valley Greens, South Bend, IN