RICHMOND, Ind. (AP)--The state environmental agency will increase the number of times inspectors visit new large livestock farms during their first year of operation, the Palladium-Item of Richmond, Ind., reported.
Under new regulations announced Wednesday by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, inspectors will check new facilities within six months of their construction and return during the following six months.
The new rules cover large farms known as confined animal feeding operations or concentrated animal livestock operations, which can have thousands of animals such as swine and cows. Dozens of land permits applications are pending for such farms across the state, with many in Henry, Jay and Randolph counties in eastern Indiana, the newspaper reported on its Web site.
State inspections previously had been done when construction started on the livestock farms, but future visits were not required within set times, IDEM spokeswoman Amy Hartsock said.
"We want to make sure (farmers) are clear on performance standards and what they ought to be doing to prevent problems from occurring," Hartsock said.
Barbara Sha Cox, a member of Environmentally Concerned Citizens of Randolph County, said she was pleased about the new inspection plan but that the state also needed to raise fees to pay for the reviews and require bonds to guarantee clean-up costs of any manure spills
"It's a plus that there will be more inspections, but who's going to pay for it? Taxpayers have to pick up the costs," said Cox, who lives in Richmond and owns land in RandolphCounty.
State Rep. Tom Saunders, R-Lewisville, said he wished that the inspection standards had been in place before the livestock farms began being built across the state.
"I think it's the state's responsibility to monitor the air and water, but it's a local decision of where the CAFOs are or are not going to be located in those communities," he said in the newspaper article.
IDEM now has 15 staffers to inspect the regulated livestock operations and solid waste facilities. The agency has not decided how many inspectors will be needed to do additional inspections of livestock operations, Hartsock said.
Source: Dow Jones Newswire