Agenda - Planning Commission - 11/07/1996

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inspections of animal waste lagoons. However, when five spills of a million gallons or m/Ore occurred in the summer of 1995, the governor called for the immediate inspection of all lagoons. The state examined over 4,600 and issued 200 citations, I45 for willful discharge of effluent. Inspectors found 124 full or overtopped lagoons and another 526 filled to undesirable levels. The first step in dealing with a threat against water quality is to make sure the operation has enough surface area to absorb the application of waste. Pettis County's ordinance sets minimum acreage requirements: one acre for every four AU of capacity for the application of liquid waste and one for every eight AU of capacity for dry manure. The CAFO permitting process should also requi~'e a detailed description of the type of waste application, the siz~ of the application area, the expected nutrient levels in the waste, the type of crop to be planted, the expected yield, and the resulting expected absorption rate. This approach may be backed up with guidelines for soil testing and annual inspection to ensure the site meets acceptable standards. Communities can enact further measures tO safeguard drinkingwater. Lincoln Township's ordinance stipulates that a Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations are the latest trend in hog~rming. Below, a newly built mauure lagoon, an inherent feature of CAFOs. water puts stress on groundwater as well. Across the country, communities have reported serious drawdowns since CAFOs began operating. Well inspectors recorded a 130-foot drop in the water table in a CAFO-heavy area of northwestern Missouri. Soil Contamination Corporations provide their facilities with specially formulated grain that contains everything the hogs need, including trace elements of copper, zinc, and magnesium. Small amounts of these heavy metals are passed into the hog manure and applied to the soil. After years of highly concentrated manure application, the accumulation of heavy metals in the soil permanently damages the land's ability to support crops. In many cases, the soil cannot be used to grow food for human consumption. No technology available can remove heavy metals from soil, so a CAFO can become the rural equivalent of the abandoned industrial lots that blight urban areas. This possibility recently gained dredence when one of the nation's leading industrial hogging corporations, Premium Standard Farms (PSF), filed bankruptcy despite its state-of-the-art practices and the efficiencies of corporate farming. This danger has prompted the state of Missouri to create a CAFO indemnity fund to help pay for the closure and cleanup of abandoned and foreclosed sites. CAFO operators must pay a one-time fee of 10 cents per AU of capacity. Since the maximum expenditure for each site is limited to $100,000, local communities are setting up backup systems. Lincoln Township requires operators to post a bond commensurate with their operation's lagoon capacity. Any aggregate capacity greater than 10 acre-feet requires a bond of $25,000 for each additional acre-foot. waste lagoon must be set back at least 300 feet from any water source that draws from a bedrock formation with a sealed casing and at least 1,000 feet from any water source that draws from an unconsolidated formation of the watershed. It also requires the installation of monitoring wells upgrade and downgrade from each lagoon and waste application area. The rash of lagoon failures has prompted new regulations. Some places like Watonwan County now require cement lagoon basins. Others have demanded that new and existing CAFOs install containment barriers or earthen dams around each lagoon as a failsafe. Missouri reqfiires automatic shutoffvalves on lagoon pipes.to prevent overfilling, and CAFO operators must visually inspect each lagoon every 12 hours and keep inspection records. The state follows up with quarterly inspections. Ironically, CAFOs rely heavily on the water they imperil. Several cases pending befqre the U.S. Engironmental Protection Agency allege that CAI:Os have illegally diverted streams and deprived the farmers downstream. The enormous demand for Economic Development? Most states have rolled out the red carpet for commercial hogging companies, expecting them to provide jobs and revitalize rural communities. "These corporations always promise the job creation opportunity of the century," says Rhonda Perry, program directo~ of the Missouri Rural Crisis Center in Columbia. "They promise good-paying jobk. They say they will buy everything locally, including grain, and even say that it won't smell. The reality is that they usually target a poor area where there is some desperation, and they play on that." In their eagerness to attract CAFOs, rural communities often overlook the cost of the development impacts. "Large confinement operations have big feed trucks and hog trucks coming and going constantly," Perry says. "The roads aren't built for that, so the county usually agrees to put in new roads, expecting that the new development will pay for it by pumping money into the local economy. Unfortunately, that never happens. The money 'that does come in does not cover the actual cost of improving roads and bridges that were perfectly adequate before the company arrived." Perry says many rural communities have learned the hard way that hogging companies do not live up to their economic forecasts. "One place in Missouri saw a one percent' increase in employment after the PSF plant opened, but they also had an 89 percent increase in the use of food stamps. Most of their own employees are eligible for assistance. And, in fact, PSF has never purchased grain in Missouri. None of those economic opportunities materialized." So, while Unionville may be producing more hogs than ever, the local merchants are going out of business. Kendall Thu, associate director of Iowa's Center for Agricultural Safety and Health, says the actual economic