USA - State proposal aims to curb pollution from factory farms

Big pig farms would for the first time be required to control offensive manure odors and be subject to tighter protections for streams and groundwater under a new factory farm policy proposed by the Rendell administration yesterday. The Agriculture, Communities and Rural Environment initiative, or ACRE, is the administration's attempt to address air, land and water pollution problems created by the explosive growth of factory farms that now number more than 118 in 22 counties. The operations -- those with more than 1,000 pigs -- now make up three-fourths of all hog operations in the state, up from 47 percent in 1991. The policy would set up a new five-member Agricultural Review Board to look at local ordinances and regulations aimed at restricting the siting and operations of factory farms, which also are known as concentrated animal feeding operations or concentrated animal operations. The board would attempt to negotiate and resolve disputes between local governments and the large farming operations, which have had to mount costly court challenges to the local laws. "This plan will enable us to protect rural quality of life while supporting commercially competitive agricultural production," said State Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Kathleen McGinty. "It's a breath of fresh air." Agriculture Secretary Dennis Wolff, who with McGinty announced the plan, said the new policy would "unite our rural communities, farmers, residents and municipal leaders alike." In efforts to protect suburban homeowners from offensive manure odors and factory farms, about 60 local governments have passed ordinances regulating the concentrated animal feeding operations or banning corporate ownership of farms. Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future, which praised Gov. Ed Rendell for his New Year's Eve veto of a factory farm bill that would have stripped local governments of any role in regulating factory farms, was more restrained in its response to the ACRE proposal. While PennFuture said the new plan for odor controls and more enforcement of land and water protections was a "first step," it said the proposal for more research into the human health effects of using antibiotics to promote animal growth was "inadequate." Most factory farms feed low levels of antibiotics to healthy livestock to promote growth and ward off disease in the closely confined feeding operations. Jan Jarrett, PennFuture director of outreach, said the practice is creating strains of super germs that can infect humans and are immune to the antibiotics. "There has been enough research," she said. "It's time to ban the use of antibiotics in healthy animals." The American Medical Association also opposes the practice. PennFuture also noted that, while tightening the tracking of manure shipments between farms and specifying how close to streams manure can be spread over farm fields, the proposal doesn't track the amount of manure that can be spread within a particular stream or river's drainage area. A PennFuture report on factory farming issues released in October said that such tracking is needed to prevent runoff of manure that could degrade streams, rivers and groundwater. The 118 factory farms that have state permits for water pollution control are allowed to store more than 369 million gallons of liquid manure. Although Pennsylvania was the first state to regulate the storage and disposal of farm animal waste in its Nutrient Management Act of 1993, many manure management plans have not been implemented, and regulators do not review the cumulative impact of multiple farms in one watershed. Phosphorous and nitrogen are present in manure and other fertilizers; both can run off fields and pollute local waterways and larger regional bodies of water like the Chesapeake Bay. Officials of PennAg Industries Association, which lobbies for the large hog and chicken farming operations, were unavailable for comment. Pennsylvania Farm Bureau officials also were unavailable for comment but have opposed any role for local governments in the regulation of manure application.