Dairy Farms Contaminate Water And Get Away With It
According to the EPA, agricultural runoff is single largest polluter of the nation’s rivers and streams. However, thanks to years of paltry EPA authority and the lax legislation imposed during the Bush administration, their hands are pretty much tied when it comes to stopping it. There are laws in place that have big farms, over 700 cows, for example, paying fines for their pollution. This is all well and good, except that 1) these farms can simply sidestep the fee system by not filing the required paperwork. The EPA doesn’t have the money or manpower to find all the tax evaders. And, 2) even more asinine, in my humble opinion, was the (de)regulation that allows many of those farms to self-certify that they will not pollute.
But, they do pollute and it is the environment and local communities that pay the cost. A recent article from the New York Times demonstrates just how shitty life can be thanks to the massive amounts of cow excrement produced by big farms. Some waste can be used fertilizer. However, the excessive amounts produced by the average industrialized dairy or meat farmer is too much for local farms to use. Following the “true cost” of beef flowchart I made a while ago, you can see how water contamination is the inevitable conclusion of the conventional system.
The resulting illnesses are, sadly, also inevitable consequences of water table contamination. In Wisconsin, known as the dairy state, high numbers of residents in several towns have been experiencing chronic diarrhea, stomach illnesses, and severe ear infections. One woman from Brown county, whose five-year-old son had to have an operation due to his severe ear infections, had her water tested after her doctor suggested her son’s problems may have stemmed from his contaminated bath water. Her water contained E. coli, coliform bacteria, and other contaminants found in manure.
Another family’s water was contaminated for months, until they dumped enough bleach into their well to kill the contaminants.
But dairy owners said it was unfair to blame them for the county’s water problems. They noted that state regulators, in their reports, were unable to definitively establish the source of the 2006 contamination.
One of those farmers, Dan Natzke, owns Wayside Dairy, one of the largest farms around here. Just a few decades ago, it had just 60 cows. Today, its 1,400 animals live in enormous barns and are milked by suction pumps…
His farm abides by dozens of state laws, Mr. Natzke said.
“All of our waste management is reviewed by our agronomist and by the state’s regulators,” he added. “We follow all the rules.”
But records show that his farm was fined $56,000 last October for spreading excessive waste. Mr. Natzke declined to comment.
The EPA wants to work with the new Congress to help establish firm regulations and safeguards against agricultural runoff.
Lisa P. Jackson, the new EPA administrator, has recently increased the enforcement of the Clean Water Act. Tom Vilsack, the agriculture secretary, has said that clean water is a priority. While campaigning, President Obama promised to regulate water pollution from livestock.
Unfortunately, the farm lobby is still an unstoppable force (of evil?) when it comes to protecting the environment. Tougher statues are fought again and again, and most often they succumb or are altered in favor of the farmer:
After Brown County’s wells became polluted, for instance, Wisconsin created new rules prohibiting farmers in many areas from spraying manure during winter, and creating additional requirements for large dairies.
But agriculture is among the state’s most powerful industries. After intense lobbying, the farmers’ association won a provision requiring the state often to finance up to 70 percent of the cost of following the new regulations. Unless regulators pay, some farmers do not have to comply.
Of course, that state finance would come from people’s taxes.
So, no matter what, we the consumers end up paying one way or another.
September 21, 2009
Tags: agriculture, Barack Obama, change, cows, farmers, green, Health, moms, policy, USDA Posted in: Health, Politics
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Egypt Becomes A Pigsty Without Pigs | Food Bubbles - September 25, 2009
[...] farm lobby, the coal lobby, etc. all have their environmentally detrimental say and sway officials to not think about the long-term global effects on human health and climate. [...]
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