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Friday, February 10, 2006

Environment - Stories today re IDEM on: CAFOS; Benzene

CAFOS. The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette has an editorial today on IDEM enforcement of CAFO regulations. Some quotes:

Daniels’ appointee responsible for the Indiana Department of Environmental Management has sent a message to Hoosiers that he is less than enthusiastic about enforcing the state’s regulation of confined-animal-feeding operations, or CAFOs.

At the annual Indiana Pork Producers convention, Tom Easterly, commissioner of IDEM, pandered to the audience by telling them he would suspend enforcement of CAFO regulations for at least the next three years. His excuse for not doing his job was that he wanted to wait until the EPA cleared up confusion over federal laws regulating CAFOs. * * *

After Easterly’s imprudent remarks to the hog farmers received a flurry of righteous scorn, he backpedaled. He said he meant that IDEM would not be enforcing deadlines for existing farms to file stormwater, soil-conservation and nutrient-management plans required for National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits because the EPA is considering extending those deadlines. Easterly added that IDEM would hold farmers accountable for violating water-quality standards.

In 2005, the state environmental management agency received the most CAFO application requests in any year for at least a decade. That dramatic increase in confined-animal-feeding operations requires the state’s regulatory enforcement to keep up with that growth. Economic interests have to be balanced with the need to protect the environment.

It appears the state legislature has turned down a prime opportunity to discuss needed improvements to CAFO regulations this legislative session, a daft move given the state’s agricultural-expansion objectives. At the very least, Indiana residents need assurances that the person Gov. Daniels has charged with protecting the state’s environment is going to do his job. Easterly’s statements give the public reason for concern.

For background, see this Feb. 7th ILB entry, titled "IDEM: No enforcement on CAFOs for next 3 years," quoting from an online source, the Pork Producers' Brownfield Network. So far as I know, the Fort Wayne editorial is the first time this story has been reported in the "traditional" press.

Benzene. "There's no need to leave the area, state official says," is the reassuring headline to a story today in the Indianapolis Star, by Tammy Webber. The report begins:

Pollution emitted by a Citizens Gas & Coke Utility plant near an Eastside school raises the long-term odds that nearby residents will develop cancer, state environment officials said Thursday.

A new study by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management found that most of the risk comes from benzene. Breathing the chemical over a long period of time has been linked to leukemia and lung cancer.

The study represents the most extensive attempt in Indiana to document and assess health risks from pollution. It was prompted by concerns about potential health effects of the coke plant on children attending Indianapolis Public School 21, at 2815 English Ave., adjacent to the plant.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on February 10, 2006 07:28 AM
Posted to Environment