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| News from Around the Farm World - Nov. 5, 2008 |
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EPA curbs factory farm pollution
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Environmental Protection Agency issued new pollution control requirements for large livestock feedlots Friday that would allow farm operators to avoid having to get a permit if they claim the facility will not put harmful discharges into nearby waterways.
EPA officials said the new requirements call for a “zero discharge standard’’ and also will require farm operators to develop management plans that prevent the runoff of excessive environmentally damaging nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorous into lakes and streams.
The new rules provide “a strong national standard for pollution prevention and environmental protection while maintaining our country’s economic and agricultural competitiveness,’’ said Benjamin Grumbles, the EPA’s assistant administrator for water, in a statement.
Environmentalists have long complained that animal feedlots - the large farm operations where hogs and cattle are fattened before slaughter - pollute waterways because of their huge buildup of manure which is piled up or spread across the land.
The EPA issued new pollution control requirement on such feedlots in 2003, but that regulation was overturned by the courts two years later. The rules issued Friday, to go into effect next February, are an attempt to meet the court’s concerns.
Under the rules, a feedlot would not automatically have to obtain a pollution discharge permit and could be certified as voluntarily complying with the ``zero discharge’’ standard. Operators would determine whether their facility is releasing or will release pollution into waterways based on the design of the facility and its operation. If they conclude no discharges will take place, they can operate without applying for a federal permit.
Environmentalists complained this provision will let many of the feedlot operators off the hook.
“This regulation allows these industrial meat farms to avoid the Clean Water Act altogether by certifying that they have taken voluntary action to avoid discharges,” said Eric Schaeffer, a former EPA enforcement official who now is director of the Environmental Integrity Project, an advocacy group.
Because feedlot owners are allowed to determine whether they should seek a pollution permit “it literally puts the foxes in charge of their gigantic henhouses, as well as hog and dairy confinement operations,” said Schaeffer.
The EPA estimated that the requirements will prevent the release into streams, lakes and other waterways of 56 million pounds of phosphorous, 110 million pounds of nitrogen and 2 billion pounds of sediment a year.
Feds delay rules to contain Great Lakes fish virus
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — Federal officials are taking another look at proposed rules designed to contain a fish-killing virus in the Great Lakes after critics said they were unreasonable and could force some fish farmers out of business.
The Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced the rules last month. They require testing and inspections of farm-raised and bait species susceptible to viral hemorrhagic septicemia, or VHS. The virus has caused a number of large fish kills but doesn’t harm people.
The regulations were scheduled to take effect Nov. 10. The agency said Tuesday it will push back the date to Jan. 9 after receiving dozens of complaints from fish farmers and wholesalers, who say the rules will eat away their profits on test and inspection fees without solving the problem.
The virus has been detected in all the Great Lakes except Lake Superior and in some inland water bodies.
The rules don’t affect shipments of fish for slaughter and human consumption. Instead, they deal with fish intended for use as bait or for stocking other water bodies.
VHS is a highly contagious virus with symptoms including darkened skin, pale gills and bleeding. Scientists believe it is among many invasive species ferried into the Great Lakes in ballast tanks of oceangoing freighters.
Among species susceptible to the virus are popular sport fish such as chinook and coho salmon, rainbow trout, walleye and bass.
Wisconsin dairy producers launch new ad campaign
MILWAUKEE, Wis. — Do you like your cheese a little bit blue?
That may mean you’re not afraid to speak your mind.
The Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board is starting an advertising campaign that links specific cheeses to personality types.
It says blue cheese is “bold, determined and opinionated.” It describes Wisconsin Swiss as “a simple man with expensive tastes,” and cheddar is “reliable, hardworking, and there with a truck when you need to move a couch.”
Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board chief executive James Robson says in a statement the campaign is intended to create a personality for each cheese that consumers can relate to.
The campaign will include print and radio advertisements and a website.
Wisconsin is the nation’s No. 1 cheese producer.
3 McCook County men charged with farm fraud
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Grand jurors have indicted three men from McCook County on charges they defrauded the federal farm program of more than $381,000 in 2003 and 2004.
Brian Randall and James Randall of Canistota and Lynn Schultz of Emery are charged with conspiracy, false statements, wire fraud and money laundering.
They pleaded not guilty in federal court in Sioux Falls.
Prosecutors say the three men claimed to run separate farming operations, but Brian Randall owned them all and James Randall and Lynn Schultz had no financial or other interest.
That allowed them to receive higher farm subsidies. |
| 11/5/2008 |
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