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 Factory farms pose a significant threat to public health and the environment. By concentrating too much manure on too little land, factory farms often cause water and air pollution which threatens drinking water supply and impacts the surrounding community’s quality of life. Factory farms run the potential of releasing massive quantities of bacteria, nutrients, and other harmful pollutants to the surrounding waters.
Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) are the biggest of the factory farms and are not regulated in Indiana unless they are designated at least a "medium" CAFO based on the number of animals confined (e.g. 200-699 mature dairy cows, 750-2,499 hogs, or 37,500 - 124,999 chickens). A CAFO can produce as much waste as a small city, yet they are permitted to store this waste in open-air lagoons with little or no treatment. CAFOs and other large livestock facilities often spread manure on nearby cropland at unsustainable rates, leading to manure spills, fish kills, and groundwater contamination.
Unfortunately, a dairy operation just under the animal threshold was built next to the home where Eric and Lisa Stickdorn have lived in since 1994. In March and September of 2004, shortly after the dairy operation was built, the Stickdorns contacted IDEM after discovering that the CFO owner was discharging animal manure and parlor wash directly into a drainage tile that leached into a tributary of Symonds Creek that runs through the Stickdorn's property and into the shallow aquifer that feeds their drinking water well. Water testing on both occasions confirmed high levels of ammonia-nitrogen (8 ppm), e-coli and dissolved oxygen rendering the water unsuitable for livestock or human consumption.
Ultimately, IDEM refused to take any action because the operation is “too small” and not subject to regulation. In addition, the Stickdorns were forced to move from their home into an apartment because of the obnoxious fumes including high levels of hydrogen sulfide, ammonia and particulate matter from the operation's open slurry pit constructed 250 feet from the Stickdorn's property line and land application of manure on land adjacent to their home. Seeking relief, the Stickdorns contacted LEAF for help.
On November 9, 2009 LEAF filed a Complaint with the Wayne County Circuit Court for nuisance, negligence, gross negligence and trespass to obtain compensatory and punitive damages and injunctive relief for the Stickdorns. Represented by D.C. lawyers who also represent Big Agriculture the prior owners who built the dairy (as opposed to the current CFO owners) convinced the trial court to dimiss the neighbors' case against them arguing that the suit "accrued" on the day the dairy was built and, therefore, the neighbors' suit filed more than six years later is time-barred. Because the trial court ignored the repeated manure spills, water quality violations, and noxious odors the neighbors' alleged were caused by the CFO owners' continued improper waste storage, disposal and management practices - harms which gave rise to new causes of action each time they occurred - LEAF has appealed the decision to the Indiana Court of Appeals. The trial court's decision, if not overturned, sets dangerous precedent limiting the rights of landowners to protect themselves and their property from this polluting industry.
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Animal Abuse at CAFOs:
CAFOs not only pose a serious environmental threat, but they also reduce farm animals to mere commodities. Although most of us are upset by the treatment of animals in "puppy mills," most ignore the fact that cows, pigs, turkeys, ducks, sheep, and chickens also feel pain and suffering. To better understand the torture farm animals endure on factory farms, watch PETA's video "Meet Your Meat" below:
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