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Thursday, February 12, 2009
Environment - More on: Indianapolis law firm reviews Randolph County proposed CAFO regs
Updating this ILB entry from Jan. 20th, and this long list of ILB entries involving Delaware County and CAFOs, Seth Slabaugh reports today in the Muncie Star-Press:
MUNCIE -- Roy Budd, director of Energize-ECI, has convinced fellow members of the Muncie-Delaware Metropolitan Plan Commission to again table a proposed ordinance regulating concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs).Commission members Gary Alexander, a real estate appraiser, and Larry Bledsoe, a county commissioner, both of whom are CAFO critics, objected to delaying action on the regulations, which the commission has considered for more than three years.
Budd chairs a CAFO committee that recommended tabling further deliberations until the state Legislature and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency enact new CAFO rules. In addition, Budd noted that the proposed ordinance's setback regulations were illegal, according to an analysis conducted for the commission by the Indianapolis law firm Bose McKinney & Evans.
For three years in a row, "there has not been any legislation come out of the Statehouse regarding CAFOs," Alexander said at a recent meeting of the commission. "And in the last eight years, the EPA has reduced restrictions on CAFOs.
"So I don't think it's in the best interest of the citizens of Delaware County to wait on the state and federal government to protect their health, their welfare and their property values."
Budd responded: "With all due respect, IDEM (Indiana Department of Environmental Management) regulates the construction, performance and closure of all confined feeding operations in the state. Home Rule dictates that that will not be superseded by local ordinance."
Because IDEM regulates CAFO setbacks -- the minimum distance between industrial livestock farms and neighboring properties -- Delaware County's proposed setbacks would appear to violate the state's Home Rule Law, according to Bose McKinney. Under that law, local governments have no authority to regulate "conduct that is regulated by a state agency, except as expressly granted by statute."
Indiana administrative code establishes setbacks of 100 feet between CAFOs and property lines, roads, waters of the state, drainage inlets and water wells, plus a 1,000-feet setback from public water supplies and a 300 feet setback between manure lagoons and waters of the state and drainage inlets.
Delaware County's proposed CAFO setbacks are stricter, including at least 1,000 feet from a residence; half a mile from residential subdivisions and hospitals; a mile from schools, cities and towns; and 1,000 feet from a church.
"I just think Bose McKinney are wrong on this," said Eric Kelley, an urban planning professor at Ball State University and member of the Indiana Land Resources Council (ILRC), in an interview. "To the extent that IDEM is not regulating certain setbacks, I think that the county can do so."
ILRC developed model CAFO ordinances for Indiana counties that are replete with setback recommendations.
"We had a young attorney with a farming background as ILRC staff when we did those model regulations, and she was fine with those setbacks, as was Andy Miller, who was then the head of the Indiana State Department of Agriculture," Kelley said.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on February 12, 2009 12:28 PM
Posted to Environment