Putting more distance between new or expanding livestock farms and
homes, water supplies and tourism areas is the aim of a proposal being
considered by Iowa lawmakers.
It’s a major overhaul of state
livestock laws, and is intended to limit threats to Iowans’ health,
waterways and air quality. It abandons talk of giving counties local
zoning control over livestock operations or calling a moratorium on new
construction.
Today, the House Environmental Protection
Committee endorsed for House Study Bill 267, a 25-page set of proposed
new environmental controls for one of Iowa’s hallmark industries. The
vote was 12-8.
Livestock farms are one of the most contentious
environmental issues in Iowa. The state is the nation’s largest
producers of hogs, finishing 25 million hogs a year.
It’s an industry that means jobs and a ready market for corn.
But
hog and cattle farms have been blamed for fish kills caused by manure
spread on crop fields or spilled directly into streams. And neighbors
have long complained about respiratory irritations, asthma and annoying
odors they link to the farms.
Many environmentalists had pushed
for county zoning of the farms, an idea Gov. Chet Culver supported
during his campaign. But that idea proved too politically hot for
lawmakers, who are looking to improve state controls on the
confinements and feedlots instead.
The new bill would be the latest of several major rewrites of state livestock laws over the past decade or so.
The
legislation would, for the first time, give special protection to
tourism areas such as the Iowa Great Lakes and Clear Lake by preventing
construction within a set distance of the areas. More separation
distance would be required between farms and high-quality waterways,
too.
For operations with less than 500 animals units, the
separation distance from the nearest tourism area, swine facility,
planned residential housing development or “qualified city” would be a
quarter mile. For 500 to 3,000 animals, it would be 2,640 feet.
For over 3,000, it would have to be a mile away.
The
state won’t automatically turn down an application from a producer who
wishes to build a new livestock operation or to expand an existing one
if the structure is within the minimum separation distance — if they go
through an odor assessment by Iowa State University.
But the
state could turn down any project if there is “a preponderance of
evidence that the construction would be detrimental” to nearby
residents or protected location.
The proposal would prohibit new
construction or expansion of a livestock confinement within 10,560 feet
of a city identified as both an “Iowa Great Place” and as a qualified
city, which means its has a comprehensive growth plan. Among cities
that currently have the Great Place designation are Clinton, Coon
Rapids, Sioux City, Fairfield, Guttenburg and Mason City.
Rep.
Mark Kuhn said today that an existing voluntary state checklist system
called the “master matrix,” intended to make the farms more
environmentally friendly, hasn’t protected air and water quality as
much as hoped.
In an analysis, the nonprofit Environment Iowa
found that most farms could get a passing grade on the matrix simply by
using concrete manure storage, adding an area for trucks to turnaround,
and constructing other elements that are considered standard for such
operations.
The new proposal would set up a study committee to
suggest ways to change the matrix, which counties would be required to
use. Now, 86 counties have opted into the program; 13 have chosen not
to participate. The state Department of Natural Resources would still
has the final say on permits.
Rep. Steve Olson, a Republican
from De Witt, said he voted against the bill because “we are going to
make it more difficult to expand Iowa’s livestock economy and make it
harder for father-son operations to exist and bring young people back
to the farm.”
Kuhn said he doesn’t think the bill will hamper livestock operations from growing or prospering.
Nathaniel
Baer of Environment Iowa said his group welcomes the bill as a step
toward limiting environmental and health damage. He predicted the bill
faces spirited debate as it moves through committees to floor debate in
the House and Senate.
Lobbying against the bill are major farm
groups, including the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, the Iown Corn
Growers Association and the Iowa Pork Producers Association. The Iowa
Department of Natural Resources has registered as “undecided.”
Eldon
McAfee, lawyer for the Iowa Pork Producers Association, said hog
farmers consider existing laws adequate to control pollution from
livestock operations. The new bill ignores other sources, industrial
plants and municipal facilities, for example, that are bigger threats,
he contends.
