This Thursday, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Environment subcommittee will hold a hearing on a proposal to wipe away an essential tool for helping rural America’s hold factory farms accountable for polluting its drinking water.
The problem is very real, and comes with very dire consequences: Huge, industrial animal agriculture operations – known as Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (or CAFOs) - are increasingly located in areas of the country where citizens depend exclusively on private wells to supply them, and their families, with clean drinking water. The CAFOs, which can house thousands of animals on nearby land produce extraordinary amounts of animal waste. And while most of these operations are good neighbors and manage waste appropriately, those that do not pose serious threats to public health.
Consider that a herd of 11,000 cows produces more waste than the entire population of Philadelphia. If mismanaged, such waste can seep into aquifers supplying the water used for drinking, bathing and cooking. The impacts of this water contamination are devastating: the improperly managed livestock waste mixes feces, bodily fluids, nitrates, e.coli and pharmaceuticals into the water. Such contaminates increase the risk of blue baby syndrome, and have been associated with miscarriage, birth defects and cancer. That’s right: this week, Congress may be voting on the issue of whether some blue baby syndrome is ok as long as it means factory farms don’t have to think too much about their neighbors.
That’s exactly what happened in Yakima Valley, Washington before my organization, Public Justice, stepped in and sued under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) on behalf of a local community organization led by a cherry farmer whose crops were dying. RCRA exists to ensure that all types of dangerous wastes, including animal waste, do not make nearby people sick when other environmental protection laws cannot. Our suit under RCRA in Yakima Valley yielded a ruling finding that the dairies were not using the waste for agricultural purposes, but rather dumping waste into the environment and causing an imminent and substantial endangerment to public health, and the dairies agreed to settle the lawsuit. As a result, for the first time in 15 years, Yakima Valley, Wash. was guaranteed safe drinking water.
This public health victory has factory farms fearful that accountability is on the horizon. So, not surprisingly, they’ve called on their friends in Congress to help. Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) has introduced the “Farm Regulatory Certainty Act,” a bill to quash any citizen suit brought under RCRA, so long as the facility in question is engaged in any sort of vague, undefined “administrative proceeding” for anything related to how they contain or apply their waste. Our friends at the Natural Resource Defense Council rightly liken that to getting a free pass for a hit-and-run if you’re currently contesting a speeding ticket.
And in a show of hubris unprecedented even by Congressional standards, Newhouse’s bill comes just months after his own constituents were victimized by a factory dairy waste flood that damaged four homes and breached the inside of one. Nevertheless, at the behest of those same factory dairies - and their bank accounts - Newhouse persists.
We can’t let Congressman Newhouse screw over his own community – and rural communities across the country – by giving factory farms a get out of jail free card when they contaminate drinking water and endanger the health and safety of families. Anyone who believes rural Americans have rights and dignity needs to pick up the phone now, call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and tell Congress to reject the “Farm Regulatory Certainty Act” in any form.
We know from experience that citizens standing up for their families and their communities – to taking on the country’s worst polluters – moves us all closer to realizing our vision of a sustainable, honest, safe, and humane food system, and keeps corporations from having business models dependent on breaking the law at the expense of health and safety. By preserving tools like RCRA, which empowers rural communities, we can ensure situations like those in Yakima are not repeated and these enclaves can continue to be places generations want to raise their families and grow their crops free from the abuse of factory farms.