Below is a recording of ICARE’s presentation of our statistical audit of ISDA’s Large CAFO records to the Idaho legislature’s House Agriculture Committee. The audit shows clearly that Large CAFO operations are polluting Idaho water and soil under the very lax supervision of ISDA. It also shows that Large CAFOs are not being fined any reasonable amount even for egregious violations of Federal and Idaho State Laws. ISDA’s enforcement of the laws of the U.S. and Idaho are not being effectively administered when it comes to protecting Idaho’s water resources or the health of its rural citizens.

To view the slides accompanying the presentation, click here

To read the presentation text, click here

Idaho dodged a bullet during the recent half-a-billion egg recall: Jack DeCoster’s factory-farmed eggs were nowhere to be found in our state’s grocery stores. However, that may change very soon– FDA is allowing DeCoster to process the tainted eggs into dry-egg products that will be included in things like baking mixes. This is an insult to law-abiding Americans and our true family farmers who take care to produce safe food.

Click here to sign on to Food & Water Watch’s letter to FDA and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and tell FDA and USDA to stop excusing, and even implicitly encouraging, the unsafe practices that led to the massive egg recall. Tainted eggs should be destroyed, not turned back into products that end up on Americans’ plates.

CAFOs garner a lot of attention due to animal welfare and food safety concerns (and they should); the human impact, however, is all too often overlooked. Today’s Boise Weekly features a story that goes a long way towards remedying that.

Our sincere thanks to Scott Weaver and the Boise Weekly for having the heart & nerve to tackle this political hot-button, and for giving CAFO-beseiged neighbors a chance to be heard.

A pivot at a dairy CAFO owned by Luis Bettencourt sprays manure across a canal and county road. Some Idahoans live with this kind of filth daily.

The past few weeks have not been kind to the Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) industry.

Let’s see, there was the recall of nearly half a billion eggs produced at a single Iowa mega-CAFO, Cargill’s recall of e-coli tainted ground beef, and Ohio CAFO owners reported to be using Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) money to pay the costs of exporting their pollution to already CAFO-saturated counties in Indiana.

If this keeps up a national realization that our factory farmed “cheap” food isn’t so cheap after all can’t be far behind.

Here are a few links to the more insightful commentary on & analysis of these developments:

• Nutritionist Marion Nestle translates the egg-CAFO industry’s response to its epic food safety failure.

• Grist uncovers the real source of the problem in Indiana’s food safety enforcement structure (or, really, lack thereof)

• The New York Times’ Editorial on the Egg Recall points out the flawed logic of industrial animal agriculture.

• Food & Water Watch’s take.

In spite of objections from at least 6 neighboring families over health concerns, on August 30th 2010 the Jerome County P&Z approved C Bar M’s (aka Ted Miller Dairy’s) application to nearly double its animal units. (To listen to I.C.A.R.E.’s recording of the hearing, click the “play” button on the media player below)

To read the Times-News’ rendering of the meeting (which also calls into question the legality of the “quorum” that made the decision), click here.

The meeting was a farce. The manner in which it was conducted stood in marked contrast to another special use permit hearing immediately preceeding it. At that hearing (on an application to operate a home-based auto-repair shop), the P&Z chairman (Jack Nelsen) made it a point to ask whether there were any conflicts of interest or ex-parte communications; the same care was not taken at July’s C Bar M hearing. Even more telling, the P&Z members expressed a great deal of heartburn over the repair-shop’s potential to become an eyesore– apparently in Jerome County, CAFO cow carcasses and mountains of noxious manure are OK, but broken-down cars are not. The P&Z members must not have a very well-defined sense of IRONY.

When the discussion on C Bar M began, one of the four P&Z members in attendance who was not present at the July C Bar M hearing recused himself, leaving only the Chairman (who is technically NOT a voting member and who also owns a mid-sized CAFO) and two other colleagues at the table. Yet rather than table further discussion and decision until more Commission members could participate, the Chairman– relying on the sketchy legal advice of Jerome County’s Deputy Prosecuting Attorney (Mike Seib)– decided to continue with the hearing.

As the discussion wore on it became painfully obvious that none of the members had reviewed ANY of the documentation submitted by the neighbors and I.C.A.R.E. that pointed out problems with the application itself as well as the siting team report. Instead, they simply took the application at its word, declining to give it any critical attention whatsoever. Adding insult to injury, the attendant P&Z Commission members had the nerve to claim that they were powerless to add any further conditions to the permit– THIS WAS IMMEDIATELY AFTER A HEARING IN WHICH THEY HAD ADDED SEVERAL CONDITIONS TO A SPECIAL USE PERMIT FOR A HOME-BASED BUSINESS, AND EVEN EXERCISED THEIR DISCRETION TO TIE THE PERMIT TO THE APPLICANT INSTEAD OF TO THE LAND.

To cap it all off, Jerome County’s Planning & Zoning Administrator (Art Brown) provided the Commission with a motion he had written out IN ADVANCE! (Convenient, no?) Again, this was immediately after another special use permit hearing in which the Administrator insisted that the Commission hand-write their motion so that he would have it word-for-word for the county’s records.

The Jerome County Planning & Zoning Commission has demonstrated a blatant disregard for the health & well-being (not to mention Civil Liberties) of the citizens they are supposed to represent.

Hopefully the Board of Commissioners will not make the same mistake.

View Idaho State Department of Agriculture & Jerome County records on C Bar M

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Gem County Commissioners, Prosecutor and the Development Services Department refuse responsibility for the protection of the citizen’s public health and safety.

1 – The commissioners failed to act and implement on the CAFO ordinance which was remanded to them by the zoning commission on April 11th 2005 – When asked why they did not implement the ordinance “We had other priorities” per Gem County Commissioners – January 2010.

This action of the Gem County Commissioners and Development Services Department is clear evidence of not prioritizing the concerns of taxpayers and protecting the public health and safety of the citizens in this county.

2 – Development Services and Gem County Commissioners have denied the citizens the opportunity of the required public hearing for the sitting of this CAFO – Per David Hargraves – “ State law takes precedent when there is no county law or ordinance”.

Using the excuse that Gem County “does not have a CAFO ordinance in place” does not excuse the Gem County Commissioners, Prosecutor and Development Services from protecting the public health and safety of the citizens and affording affected citizens the right to a public hearing which impacts their health and safety.

3 – Gem County Commissioners, Prosecutor and Development Services have refused to address the petition signed by 22 citizens (95 %) of the people impacted by Terry Jones animal factory. The Citizens asked for the enforcement of the 1000’ set back and the required public hearing. The petition was given to the Gem County Prosecutor and forwarded to the Commissioners and Development Services in fall of 2009.

As of this day there has been NO FORMAL ACTION from Gem County Officials regarding the PUBLIC HEARING FOR THE PROTECTION OF PUBLIC HEALTH and SAFETY.

The response from Idaho Deputy Attorney General Kaufman dated March 3rd 2009 states “remedy for a party who is aggrieved by a county or city’s decision under LLUPA is a private cause of action”.
The burden to protect the public health and safety is your responsibility. Gem County Officials continue to disregard the PUBLIC HEALTH and SAFETY of Citizens.

4 – On March 9th 2009 Gem County Commissioners and Development service tried to delete the 1000’ feedlot setback during a public hearing not related to the CAFO ordinance. The attempt to delete the 1000’ setback requirement for Animal Feedlots was met with opposition from citizens and GCC 11-6-5.C was taken off of the agenda .The Citizens of Gem County were denied the opportunity to speak at this public hearing.

This is another example of your blatant disregard to the citizens of Gem County and their public health and safety.

5 – Gem County Commissioners were notified of ground water contamination from Terry Jones animal factory in spring of 2010 but yet the commissioners passed a Confined Animal Feeding Operation Ordinance which reduced the 1000’ set back to 500’.

Gem County Commissioners and Development Services inaction to protect the public health and safety of the citizens is confirmed by not addressing the many written and verbal complaints on this animal factory. It is time to vote the commissioners & prosecutor out of office.

6 – The New Gem County CAFO Ordinance which was implemented in June 2010 allows for an existing CAFO facility to continue and expand its operation despite numerous Federal and State Clean Air and Water Violations.

The Commissioners have the same authority as Gooding County and Power County to adopt an Emergency Ordinance and or Moratorium concerning Confined Animal Feeding Operations in order to protect the public health, safety or welfare of the citizens. But they continue to NOT PROTECT THE PUBLIC HEALTH & SAFETY of THE CITIZENS.

7 – Citizens have asked the Commissioners and Development Services to adopt an Open Burn Ordinance for Gem County. Commissioner Lan Smith responds “We can’t have a new ordinance because it will cost us money”.

GEM COUNTY OFFICIALS HAVE REFUSED TO ACT in PROTECTING THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY of the CITIZENS.

Gem County Commissioners, Prosecutor and Development Services have done nothing to endorse the “county’s commitment to support the goal of public health and safety in those areas that the Idaho Legislature has authorized counties to regulate.”

The Citizens of GEM County do not want the Prosecutor, Commissioners or Development Services written rhetoric. The Citizens of Gem County want ACTION from their elected officials to PROTECT our HEALTH AND SAFETY.

When will Gem County Commissioners, Prosecutor and Development Services PROTECT THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY OF THE CITIZENS?

Yesterday’s Idaho Statesman reported that EPA has reached a settlement with Happy Valley Dairy (a Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) in Nampa) over several Clean Water Act Violations.

According to the Statesman:

The Clean Water Act violations were found in April 2010 during a joint EPA and Corps of Engineers inspection after a complaint. The company has agreed to come into compliance and pay a penalty of $14,750 for the stormwater violations.

Nampa's Happy Valley Dairy CAFO, bordered on the West by the 303(d) listed Indian Creek

The facility, located at 1815 Cruse Lane in Nampa, is owned by Nic DeRuyter of Marsing. Just like DeRuyter’s Marsing CAFO (where inadequate employee training and safety equipment resulted in a worker being crushed to death in December 2008), the Happy Valley facility has a history of problems that went unchecked– and in at least one case was even sanctioned– by the Idaho State Department of Agriculture (ISDA).

Per the Rules Governing Dairy Waste, Idaho dairies are required to be managed so as to “prevent an unauthorized discharge or contamination of surface and ground water” (IDAPA 02.04.14.040). The ISDA is tasked with enforcing this requirement; yet it is clear that when it comes to the facilities that generate the greatest volume and concentration of manure– the state’s factory farms– ISDA considers enforcement optional.

In 2004, after receiving a complaint about a discharge of lagoon waste water from the Happy Valley CAFO (then owned by John Schuler) onto an adjacent field, ISDA decided that the discharge should be considered a “third party application,” and not subject to enforcement action. Little did ISDA care that according to the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), all water flow in Indian Creek that winter was “derived from ground water discharge”– including seepage from the manure-saturated field. I suppose they must have thought it wouldn’t really matter if pathogen- and nutrient-laden CAFO manure flowed into Indian Creek and made its way to the toxic waste dump formerly known as the Snake River.

The folks at Food & Water Watch will be road-tripping through the Midwest this summer, meeting with farmers, citizens and local officials about why our food system is broken and how to fix it.

Cows graze on pasture on a sustainable ranch in Owyhee County, Idaho

As a kick-off to the road trip, Food & Water Watch is collecting signatures on a petition that will be submitted to the US Department of Justice. The petition asks DOJ to fully enforce pro-competition laws already on the books and break up the corporate monopolies that have hijacked our food system–  destroying the livelihoods of farmers in the U.S. and abroad, bringing us the monstrosities we’ve come to know and despise as factory farms (or CAFOs), and making our food supply less safe and more prone to price spikes like those that ignited the 2008 global food crisis.

Cows stand ankle-deep in their own manure at an Owyhee County Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO)

Please take a moment to read the petition, and consider adding your name to the thousands already gathered.

For more information on why competition is important to keeping our food supply safe, sane, and equitable, check out Food & Water Watch’s fact sheet: “Why Antitrust Laws Matter for Agriculture and Food”.

For a clear picture of how this applies to Idaho’s particularly severe infestation of dairy and beef animal factories, read “Consolidation and Price Manipulation in the Dairy Industry”, and “Horizontal Consolidation and Buyer Power in the Beef Industry”.

Compare that to what the folks at Harvard’s School of Public Health’s “Healthy Eating Pyramid”:

Yesterday, California’s G0vernor signed into law a much-needed counterpart to the state’s animal welfare standards for commercial egg growers (2008’s proposition 2). Proposition 2 required that commercial egg growers in California adopt what are essentially cage-free (though not enclosure-free) practices. The problem, however, was that proposition 2 did not state that eggs sold in California had to meet its standards; this created a great deal of concern in communities in Idaho and across the West about the potential for an exodus of poultry concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) from California to other areas already oversaturated with waste from existing CAFOs.  With this new law (AB 1437) California’s citizens have patched prop 2’s loophole– whole eggs sold in California must now meet proposition 2’s standards– delivering a victory for animal welfare and anti-pollution interests (better animal welfare conditions means fewer birds in a given space, and thus less manure to deal with). Further, given California’s buying-power, it is possible that this new law may spur voluntary adoption of proposition 2 standards by growers outside the state–making the law a victory for citizens and animals inside and outside the state.