"Farm Bureau defends CAFOs" is the headline to this story today in the Muncie Star Press, reporting that the "Indiana Farm Bureau defended concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) during a recent seminar broadcast to local government officials throughout the state. County commissioners and planners from Henry, Madison and Randolph counties, where dairy CAFOs have generated controversy, watched the seminar in Muncie, one of 10 sites where it was shown." Some quotes:
Regarding perceived water pollution caused by CAFOs, [Chad Frahm, an attorney for Farm Bureau] said "the question is, what is the relative impact" of CAFOs on water quality versus the impact of other sources of pollution: septic systems, combined sewer overflows in cities and towns, fertilization of residential and commercial lawns, row-crop agriculture, and small, unregulated livestock operations.In a story from another midwestern state, the DesMoines Register reports here that "Iowa environmental regulators are getting ready to fine as many as 600 hog-confinement operators who are up to five years late filing required plans showing how they'll keep manure out of lakes and rivers." Posted by Marcia Oddi at March 8, 2004 07:19 PMCAFOs are heavily regulated by state and federal laws, Frahm said. Those laws require CAFOs to obtain construction and operating permits. They don't allow CAFOs in floodways and on soils with a high water table. They restrict the land application of manure. They require emergency spill response plans, extensive record keeping, and inspections. The Farm Bureau lawyer said state and federal laws did not regulate odor or increased truck traffic from CAFOs.
County government can site CAFOs through their zoning authority, according to Ted Feitshans, an attorney specializing in agricultural and environmental law at North Carolina State University. "That zoning authority may determine the location of new [CAFOs]," Feitshans said. "And through a process of amortization, it may restrict and eventually remove existing [CAFOs]."
CAFOs are regulated federally by the Clean Water Act. The act includes provisions for citizens to bring lawsuits against CAFOs, Frahm said.