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The Columbus Dispatch
www.dispatch.com
A
real stinker: Taft can still do right thing on factory farms
Wednesday,
November 29, 2000
The
Ohio Farm Bureau appears to have all its ducks -- or chickens -- in a row regarding
factory farms, what with the Ohio House's recent overwhelming approval of
legislation giving the state Department of Agriculture oversight of such farms.
The
state Senate approved the concept in May.
Lawmakers
apparently have been persuaded that this department -- one of whose functions
is to promote Ohio agriculture -- is better suited to regulate the state's
humongous farms than is the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, which
currently oversees them.
The
Dispatch has made no secret of its criticism for the way the EPA has botched
its responsibility. Lacking a clear handle on how to deal with the state's
biggest farms -- ones with at least 1,000 beef cattle, 2,500 hogs or 100,000
chickens -- the agency has created a confounding and nerve-racking situation
for some farmers who want to expand their operations.
And
the EPA hasn't adequately kept tabs on which farms have grown by how much. But
the agency has been getting much better in the past year, coming down hard, for
example, on polluters such as the notorious Buckeye Egg Farm.
The
Farm Bureau has used the frustrations of the above-mentioned farmers as its
main argument against the EPA.
When
asked individually, however, many of these farmers say they don't care whether
the EPA or the Agriculture Department is in charge. As they have told The
Dispatch, they simply want consistency.
And
consistency, not to mention the public good, would be best served by
strengthening the EPA's ability to regulate megafarms, setting clear guidelines
so that regulators aren't thought to be making up rules as they go along.
The
Dispatch has no problem with large- scale farming. Economic realities dictate
the trend, as in so many other industries. But the state has an obligation to
ensure that these megafarms, which produce waste volumes rivaling those of
small cities, meet appropriate manure runoff standards.
The
state's experts on protection against ground-water contamination and air
pollution work for the EPA, not the Department of Agriculture. And, the megafarm
industry has shown time and again that it needs careful monitoring in these
areas.
Switching
authority will mean harmful delays of true regulation as new rules are written
and details are figured out.
Gov.
Bob Taft has shown he wants to protect Ohioans' right to clean air and water.
But signing this measure into law is not the best way to accomplish the goal.
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