|
Current laws in Illinois and in many other states are woefully inadequate to protect family farmers, rural communities, water quality, air quality, and property values. |
Rural Messes P.O. Box 615, Elmwood, IL 61529 309-742-8895, Fax: 309-742-8055 
Online since 1997 http://www.farmweb.org |
|
 |
 |
| APRIL 1999 MAP OF ILLINOIS MEGA-FACTORIES | 1992 U.S. MAP | LINKS | FARM AID '98 | JOIN |
| PROPOSALS || BIBLIOGRAPHIES: ILLINOIS | U.S. | BUTTONS | SIGNS | A POEM |
| CONFERENCES || AERIAL PHOTOS & TOPO MAPS | SEARCH this website |
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 has ordered Nordman Feedlots Inc., Oregon, Ill., to stop all unauthorized discharges of manure and wastewater and comply with the Clean Water Act. EPA also ordered the company to apply to Illinois Environmental Protection Agency for a discharge permit under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System....
Illinois legislators should do nothing to discourage people from reporting environmental problems on farms, especially factory-farms that have been a bone of contention for years. An amendment pending in the Senate would require complainants to provide their name and a mailing address before any complaint would be investigated. That's strange because the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency does the investigating. And it doesn't think there's a problem. In fact, it opposes the legislation. The agency averages only 25-30 anonymous calls a year on farm problems, which include odor, according to IEPA spokeswoman Maggie Carson. The IEPA has five farm specialists, so that means an average of six calls per inspector maximum...
State legislators move to restrict citizen nuisance suits made against factory livestock facilities before they open...
State Sen. Dale Risinger ought to think twice about co-sponsoring legislation [SB 2333] requiring that people who complain to the state about farm violations identify themselves. The bill would have a chilling effect on the state's most effective watchdogs - normal, everyday residents living in rural areas. The legislation is an attempt by the Illinois Farm Bureau to stifle opposition to industrial-sized livestock operations...
Illinois Senate Bill 2333 has been instigated by factory farm supporters, including the Farm Bureau. This bill is a dangerous step backward and contrary to the spirit and intent of the federal Clean Water Act, which advises states to encourage, not discourage, the public reporting of pollution...
State Sen. Dale Risinger issued a press release Wednesday trumpeting a bill he co-sponsored to stop "a rash of anonymous - and false - environmental complaints about farming operations." ...There's a question about how many complaints constitute a "rash." There's a question about how many complaints are false. There's a question as to how many farms have been stopped or even slowed by such complaints. And there's a question about whether people have highly unfrivolous reasons to remain anonymous. Like maybe they work at a place that is breaking the law and could lose their jobs if their names leak out...
SB 2333 is an industry led initiative that would amend the Environmental Protection Act and would prohibit anonymous citizen complaints against farming operations including confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) in Illinois. If the bill is enacted, all citizens who lodge a complaint would have to provide personal information to the EPA before any pollution claim would be investigated...
...Animal factories cause problems ordinary farms don't. Because of that, a good case can be made for doing the opposite of what the governor seeks: make public hearings easier to call, lengthen setback requirements and demand tougher standards for waste-pit construction and manure management. The Environmental Protection Agency needs a meaningful role at the outset, not just when clean-up time comes. And local officials deserve a greater say-so when mega-farms are proposed. This bill turns away from the few important safeguards in Illinois law. It is a danger to downstate, and lawmakers should reject it out of hand.
Best Solution is to Eat Beef from Traditional Family Farmers
Hearing scheduled for Senate Resolution 499 (SR0499), 9 AM, April 28, 2004
May 12, 2004 Letter to Editor: Proposed task force not representative
A-1 Stratton Building, Springfield, IL
Senate Agriculture and Conservation Committee
The University of Iowa
Environmental Health Sciences Research Center
http://www.ehsrc.org
This July 2001 report from NRDC and the Clean Water Network documents how animal waste from factory farms threatens human health and our nation's rivers. Most factory farms store animal waste in open lagoons as large as several football fields. Lagoons routinely burst, sending millions of gallons of manure into waterways and spreading microbes that can cause gastroenteritis, fevers, kidney failure, and death. This report lists the track records of the largest polluters and recommends existing technology that is safer and more sustainable.
Summary http://www.nrdc.org/water/pollution/nspills.asp
Press Release http://www.nrdc.org/media/pressreleases/010724.asp
Full Report http://www.nrdc.org/water/pollution/cesspools/cessinx.asp
02/22/2001: Dairy ordered to cut herd size, and
cleanup 2 million gallons of waste
02/23/2001: Editorial: State should send
corporate farmers a tough message
02/23/2001: Aerial photos of waste dumped
from Elmwood dairy lagoon 
02/27/2001: Rainfall hinders cleanup of dumping
from overloaded lagoon
03/03/2001: Inwood Dairy knee deep in debt,
too
03/10/2001: Protesters: tougher regs and
enforcement might have prevented mess
03/14/2001: State, Inwood Dairy hash out
agreement
05/02/2002: Dairy fined $50,000 for waste overflow
| Papers by John Ikerd |
Aerial Photos
 |
Hurricane Floyd archive | How States Fail To Prevent Pollution from Livestock Waste |
U.S. Pork Bailout
EPA/USDA Draft AFO plan |
| The Ike's Fish Kill Advisory Network | Illinois Campaign for Political Reform | Pork Powerhouses 1998: Shakeout inevitable | NC MORATORIUM | Planning book: Zoning for CAFOs |
| Iowa News: Telegraph Herald | Gazette Online | Des Moines Register |
|
Includes clickable map of all large hog operations in Iowa with state permits.
07/25/2001: Hog-manure spill kills 33,000 fish in north Iowa |
Paper presented at the conference:
Animal Production Systems And The Environment
July 19-22, 1998, Convention Center, Des Moines, Iowa
Paper presented at the
Soil and Water Conservation Society Conference
February 10-12, 1998, Iowa State Center, Ames, Iowa
11 discussion points which can be used to explain why large-scale swine
production facilities are very different from traditional family farms,
and therefore necessitate a much higher level of rules and regulations.
| How
tough is the Illinois Dept. of Agriculture exam to certify livestock "facility"
managers?
MANURE
MANAGEMENT -- NO EASY SOLUTIONS
|
|
ARE COMING TO YOUR AREA? Here's a report from the Illinois Stewardship Alliance that explains what's wrong with Illinois livestock regulations and what changes are needed, along with a map, and a list of livestock factory expansion in Illinois. |
 |
(The Fall 1997 version of
this map
was printed Nov. 12, 1997 on the editorial page of the Peoria Journal Star!
Then it was noted in the Jan. 1, 1998 editorial: "...we used a map purporting
to show the location [and size] of mega-animal farms throughout Illinois.
A
Farm Bureau spokesman later informed us [the map] undercounted them by
at least tenfold.")
WHAT'S
HAPPENING?: A State-by-State Summary
Part of a report published in the Center for Rural Affairs Newsletter
Also see: Iowa
Hog Confinement
...lots of useful historical Iowa and U.S. swine info!