Posted November 9, 2006
Jeff Alexander, Muskegon Chronicle (MI)
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Building corn-based ethanol plants in Michigan to produce alternative fuel could trigger a boom in so-called "factory farms" and increase water pollution in the state, according to an environmental activist.
Ethanol plants attract large dairy farms known as CAFOs -- concentrated animal feeding operations -- because a byproduct of distilling corn can be used as a feed supplement for cattle, said Gayle Miller, legislative director for the Sierra Club's Michigan chapter.
Michigan already has about 200 CAFOs -- large dairy, pig and poultry farms that house thousands of animals. Those CAFOs collectively generate more than 4 billion pounds of liquid manure annually, nearly all of which is spread untreated on farm fields, according to government data.
At a meeting Wednesday at Muskegon Community College to discuss environmental concerns associated with CAFOs, Miller said building more ethanol plants would endanger the environment and public health.
"The state Legislature and the governor have bought into the notion that ethanol is going to save the world. From my perspective, you might as well drop the distilled corn (fuel) into the water -- it would cause fewer problems" than manure runoff from CAFOs, Miller told a group of 45 people.
Four ethanol plants have broken ground in Michigan since 2003, quadrupling the state's production of corn-based fuel, according to state officials. The state also has joined with General Motors, Meijer, and CleanFUEL USA to make ethanol available at more gas stations.
In a July press release, Gov. Jennifer Granholm called the construction of more ethanol refineries and availability of the alternative fuel at more gas stations "important steps to fulfilling Michigan's next great destiny -- making our state and our nation independent of foreign oil."
Miller said the number of dairy CAFOs increased in Iowa after corn-based ethanol plants sprouted there.
Building more CAFOs in Michigan would be bad for the environment and the economies of rural communities, Miller said, because the farms can pollute surface waters, foul the air with rank odors and toxic chemicals, depress nearby property values and drive some small farmers out of business.
Michigan's largest farm group, the Michigan Farm Bureau, actively promotes CAFOs. Farm Bureau officials claim CAFOs help farmers remain profitable by producing more food products at lower cost; the group also claims CAFOs cause less harm to the environment than smaller farms.
Unlike cities, which must treat sewage before spreading the resulting sludge on land, CAFOs can spray raw manure on fields and crops provided they stay within state standards for nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations in the soil.
All Michigan farms also are exempt from the state's air pollution control law, even though huge manure storage lagoons at CAFOs emit ammonia, methane and potentially deadly hydrogen sulfide gas.
The state has fined several dairy CAFOs in Michigan, including the Ryzebol Dairy in Bailey and den Dulk Dairies in Ravenna, after manure drained off farm fields and fouled nearby streams, government records show.
"It doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out that if you dump millions of gallons of manure on the ground, you're going to pollute the environment," Miller said. "We absolutely need to protect farming in Michigan, but these factory farms are not farms -- they are industries."
Walter Guterbock, a livestock veterinarian and former CAFO owner who works for den Dulk Dairies in Ravenna, said CAFOs are "held to a higher (environmental) standard than any small farmer."
Miller disputed that claim. She said all CAFOs should be required to treat the manure the facilities generate before spreading it on the land.
Tempers flared during the meeting when farmers engaged in spirited exchanges with Miller and local CAFO critics.
Moorland Township Supervisor Chuck Krepps, a former farmer, walked out of the meeting after arguing that CAFOs are the only way some farmers can earn a living.
"This is a market driven problem; the market wants cheap food," Krepps said. "To think you're going to go back 20 years (before there were many CAFOs), it's not going to happen."
Krepps implored Miller and other CAFO critics to work with farm industry leaders to resolve the conflict between environmentalists and critics of the massive farms.
Miller said farm leaders have refused to work with the Sierra Club to address the environmental concerns associated with CAFOs.
Krepps stormed out of the meeting when Miller told him to sit down.
After the meeting, Guterbock acknowledged that spreading large quantities of raw manure on farm fields could cause air and water pollution if proper precautions were not taken. He said CAFOs that pollute the environment should be penalized.
But Guterbock flatly rejected Miller's assertion that CAFOs are a major threat to public health and the environment in Michigan.
"She presented a very one-sided picture," Guterbock said. "It was analogous to saying people speed on the highway, so we shouldn't have cars. In any human (created) system there are bound to be failures."