A bill designed to clarify and streamline the process for constructing new or expanding existing concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO) in Indiana is moving its way through the statehouse.
The House Committee on Environmental Affairs voted last Wednesday 7 to 3 in favor of the measure authored by State Rep. David Wolkins (R) Winona Lake.
"We had lots of good discussion on it," said Wolkins.
Wolkins, who chairs the committee, said House Bill 1454 provides for a more thorough list of requirements the applicant has to meet to obtain a permit yet streamlines and simplifies the process to keep the judicial system from having to get involved as much as they do now.
Currently, Wolkins said all major violations for 10 years have to be listed by an applicant, but the courts often get called in to settle disputes over what constitutes a major violation, causing delays in deciding a permit request.
Under his proposal, all violations big or small over five years must be listed to ease differences of opinion that often lead to court disputes, he said.
The Hoosier Environmental Council, though, maintains existing CAFOs, through changes in the legislation governing manure storage capacity, would be allowed to expand without having to notify neighbors and local governments of their plans.
Wolkins, though, said only changes in an operation that would increase or decrease waste production by 10 percent or less would be exempt from notification requirements.
He said that provision would help many operators who now don't go ahead with even small upgrades or changes like replacing a pump under a belief they would have to get a permit when they really don't, said Wolkins.
He also pointed out that public disclosure requirements would remain for applicants of new CAFOs and transfers of ownership on existing CAFOs.
"This is not to increase CAFOs or anything like that," said Wolkins.
Kim Ferraro, the HEC's agriculture policy director and senior staff attorney, told committee members expansion by existing CAFOs would be made easier by not requiring full disclosure of all responsible parties seeking permit approval from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.
Only the person who applied and received the permit or someone designated to have applied or received the permit or the owner of the waste management facility on the property has to be revealed, she said.
That could result in the actual owner slipping through the cracks of any violations that might occur.
"If this outside corporation said we want you to have more animals, they're not on the hook for the waste produced by those animals. Just the person on the ground is,'' Ferraro said.
She said any past violations at other CAFOs the actual owner might be associated with are going unnoticed during the process IDEM follows in deciding permit applications, she said.
Disclosure of officers, directors and senior management officials of a CAFO would also be excluded under the bill, she said.
Ferraro also outlined some major fish kills and other bad outcomes from CAFO-related waste releases and spills in various areas of the state more than five years ago that would not have to be disclosed under changes in the permitting process outlined in the bill.
"We should be looking for ways to strengthen environmental safeguards, not weaken them further," she said.
Wolkins said the bill stems from pork producers and IDEM wanting a simpler, easier to understand process, and there were no changes made to the language prior to the committee's vote.
The bill now moves on to the full House for consideration.