Activists mired in manure

The Washington Times ^ | June 5, 2006 | Steven Milloy

[neverdem]

Environmental activists are teaming up with state attorneys general and trial lawyers to bankrupt the nation's livestock farmers -- in the name of saving the environment. If the situation wasn't so serious, it would be hilarious.

    The activists -- including the Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club and the Union of Concerned Scientists -- are trying to convince Congress the nation's farms should be treated as industrial waste sites and therefore subject to severe penalties under the federal Superfund law. Some state attorneys general, supported by trial lawyers, have filed lawsuits to the same end. Why? They argue, animal manure is a hazardous substance.

    They now demand Congress refuse to clarify that the Superfund law was never intended to apply to natural animal waste. They are claiming -- falsely -- that without Superfund, animal waste would be unregulated. Manure already is heavily regulated under the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act and other federal and state regulations.

    Proponents of adding animal waste to Superfund falsely claim small family farms won't be affected. Under Superfund, huge penalties can be levied against small operations and even individuals. Tens of thousands of small family farmers could be affected.

    Congress never intended the Superfund law to apply to farms -- it was designed to clean up industrial waste sites like Love Canal. But because it did not specifically exempt animal waste, activists now seize on this lack of clarity to haul farmers before the courts and apply the draconian penalties permissible under Superfund.

    If the activists succeed, farmers could face penalties of many millions of dollars, and thousands of small farmers could be forced off their land. "The domestic livestock industry would be driven from this country, the grain industry would be crippled, and farm families and communities would..."

[hsalaw]

They argue, animal manure is a hazardous substance.

This is ridiculous. Animal waste is biodegradable, and adds nutrients to the soil.

[Brad from Tennessee]

If today was April 1st instead of June 5th I would think this story was a lampoon.

[goldstategop]

Of course there's the irony of liberals wading in sh*t. Their philosophy is full of it!

(Denny Crane: "Every one should carry a gun strapped to their waist. We need more - not less guns.")

[Atchafalaya]

Why am I not surprised???

[dennisw]

There are some mega-farms that are a bad as industrial polluters. These farms foul groundwater and rivers. But I sure hope they aren't dealt with a super fund sites via laws intended for industry.

Liberal lawyer activist rats are obviously behind this. Lawyers are sucking the life out of productive sectors of our economy

[singfreedom]

Same here. One can only imagine the far-reaching implications of this kind of thinking. Human waste could also be ruled "hazardous waste" and sewage plants would become "superfund" sites.

I resent mightily our legislators having to waste time on these liberal, enviro nut jobs, flights of fancy.

[lndrvr1972]

Huh? If these people had nothing to protest they would have no life.

[Hexenhammer]

Doesn't organic food use animal waste as a natural fertilizer? Wouldn't that make organic farms waste sites as well?

It would be funny to see the green-pinkos starving ouside of a McDonalds because they can't get organic vegies and won't touch a big mac.

[wildcatf4f3]

Death to the Left

[DannyTN]

Activists are a waste site.

[brityank]

Ping.

[Renderofveils]

Nothing to worry about here. Congress has a history of protecting their own, and there's no bigger collection of bull- than it D.C..

[Renderofveils]

*than IN D.C..

(It's too early...)

[ovrtaxt]

Call Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp! They can do a Farm Aid concert to help.

Oh, wait- they're liberals! nevermind

[gakrak]

"Some state attorneys general, supported by trial lawyers, have filed lawsuits to the same end. Why? They argue, animal manure is a hazardous substance."


Therefore, animals are hazardous to the environment.
Those poor animals, where's PETA when the cows need them. LOL. Amen.

[sportutegrl]

Do bears $#*! in the woods?

[Izzy Dunne]

Call Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp! They can do a Farm Aid concert to help.

They will be shunned by the greenies because they advocate pollution!

[Chewie84]

"This is ridiculous. Animal waste is biodegradable, and adds nutrients to the soil."

My thoughts exactly.

[Nightrider]

i'm thinking long and hard as to how i might bring out the next 'environment protection' scam....they money is there for the taking if i can just come up with the scam......sheesh! why didn't i think about that 'shit'????

[Miss Maam]

Ping.

[Calpernia]

Thanks for the ping


Related:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1642364/posts
Manure Makes Farm a Superfund Site - enviro's going after farmers

[Calpernia]

If this gets passed it will very likely make all of us, non farming states. That's just what the NIAA wants.

If we all stop raising livestock they can control the entire market.

This, eminent domain and NAIS is an attempt to destroy independent farming and ranching and it will work. You can not contain and walk around behind cattle with a scoop shovel.

The clean air act damn near whiped out the hog industry until they gave them seven years to get up to code.

[Calpernia]

NIAA Membership Directory--- List of people that crafted NAIS - folks to boycott !

National Associations and Commercial Organizations

AgInfoLink USA, Inc.
Allflex USA, Inc.
American Association of Avian Pathologists
American Association of Bovine Practitioners
American Association of Equine Practitioners
American Association of Small Ruminant Practitioners
American Association of Swine Veterinarians
American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians
American Farm Bureau Federation
American Feed Industry Association
American Horse Council
American Quarter Horse Association
American Sheep Industry Association
American Veal Association
American Veterinary Medical Association
APC, Inc.
Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges
Babcock Genetics, Inc.
BioRad Laboratories
Bloodhound Animal Identification System
Bock's Cattle-Identi Company, Inc.
Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc.
Cargill Meat Solutions
Centers for Epidemiology and Animal Health
Clarkston Consulting
Dairy Farmers of America, Inc.
Digital Angel & Electronic ID, Inc.
Elanco Animal Health
eMerge Interactive, Inc.
EZ-ID / AVID ID Systems
Farms.com & PigChamp, Inc.
Farnam Companies, Inc.
GlobalVetLink L.C.
Hawkeye Steel Products, Inc.
Holstein Association USA, Inc.
IDEXX Laboratories, Inc.
Intervet, Inc.
Iowa Select Farms
Ketchum Manufacturing, Inc.
Livestock Marketing Association
Maxwell Foods
MetaFarms, Inc.
Micro Beef Technologies, Ltd.
Monsanto Company
Murphy-Brown LLC
National Association of State Departments of Agriculture
National Band and Tag Company
National Dairy Herd Improvement Association, Inc.
National Livestock Producers Association
National Milk Producers Federation
National Pork Board
National Pork Producers Council
National Renderers Association
Optibrand Ltd., LLC
Osborn & Barr Communications
Pfizer Animal Health, Inc.
PIC USA
Premier 1 Sheep Supplies, Ltd.
Propig.com
RMS Research Management Systems, USA, Inc.
Schering-Plough Animal Health Corporation
Science Applications International Corporation
Temple Tag, Ltd.
VeriPrime Inc.
Viral Antigens, Inc.
Vitalia Inc.
Wiechman Pig Company, Inc.
WestfaliaSurge, Inc.
Y-TEX Corporation

[null and void]

Oy'm going to make my fortune selling CowCorks™, Oy am...

[Calpernia]

And that's no bull

[null and void]

Thanks for putting in a plug for me...

[Calpernia]

Teet weren't nuthing

[PeterPrinciple]

But because it did not specifically exempt animal waste


Words are what you want them to mean, not what they really mean.

[tertiary01]

Years ago we found out that due to the nature of the soils on our property the residue from the manure pile was leaching into a nearby creek. So now what we don't immediately need for soil amendment is sent to the dump where it is turned into compost for sale to gardeners.

The manure and bedding from 37 horses is put into a dumpster and away it goes. BTW the dump charges a fairly inexpensive rate for doing this (personally I think they should be paying us but that's another story).

[tertiary01]

American Quarter Horse Assn. is the only horse breed assn on your list. I guess 'cause it's always been run by cattlemen.

[Calpernia]

Horses haven't been well defined in NAIS. Internationally, horses are listed in livestock. Nationally, horses fall into a grey line between NAIS and PAWS SEE: http://nopaws.org/DFOWDPCA_1.pdf for background on PAWS

But, making Manure a superfund item will take care of that grey line anyway.

[tertiary01]

Pretty soon all our meat will be imported. Venture capitalists and Hollywood types in my area are busy as we speak getting money together to buy huge tracts of land in Nicaruagua, to raise cattle for export.

I'm sure all of this superfund stuff is being floated to create the motivation for implementation of all the future trade zones that seem well planned.

[Calpernia]

Just needed to emphasis this. Very well said.

Pretty soon all our meat will be imported. Venture capitalists and Hollywood types in my area are busy as we speak getting money together to buy huge tracts of land in Nicaruagua, to raise cattle for export.

I'm sure all of this superfund stuff is being floated to create the motivation for implementation of all the future trade zones that seem well planned.

[Psycho_Bunny]

This is ridiculous. Animal waste is biodegradable, and adds nutrients to the soil.

Their approach is ridiculous....and animal waste is biodegradable....and it adds nutrients to the soil.

But to pretend that there aren't serious pollution problems associated with mega-farming cattle is to lie to yourself.  When 5,000 head of cattle are put in a confined pen system for any length of time, that land is destroyed for a couple generations and the surrounding water can become downright poisonous.

Like everything else, too much of a good thing can be a disaster.

[tertiary01]

You could apply that argument to any number of industries.

But it is the mega farmers/ranchers that are in favor of most of the legislation as they get to be exempt or obtain favorable treatment from alot of it. It is the family farm with a few cows, goats or horses that gets the full impact of the law.

[Calpernia]

bttt

[Psycho_Bunny]

Why did you reply to me?  Nothing you said really has anything to do with what I posted.

[Alas Babylon!]

I thought it was a very good answer to your comment. Or am I not allowed to reply to you? (Just kidding!)

What Tertriary means is, while those 5,000 cows penned together may indeed be a poison/pollution hazard, a law to correct that particular problem is often interpreted to apply to the small farmer/citizen/homeowner/etc that should not nor was ever intended. A shame to see one family farmer or homesteader punished because we wanted to prevent 5,000 cows per acre polluting out water supply.

Many a time on Free Republic we have seen the effects of unattended consequences deprive us of our traditions and liberties.

[tertiary01]

Couldn't have said it (but wish I did) better.

[Psycho_Bunny]

Being a Straw Man, that still has nothing to do with what I said.