Protect Your Community from Animal Factory Pollution

A guide to keeping factory farms out of your county

Take Action Today!

· Monitor your county zoning office for new Matrix applications at least once a month. For your county’s contact information, visit your county’s website at: www.iowacounties.org/Links/CountyWebsites.htm

· Talk to your county supervisors about how animal factory pollution has impacted your community and other communities throughout Iowa. Help them understand why industrial livestock production does not create strong communities or economies!

· Talk to your friends and neighbors about the risk that factory farming poses to your community, local family farmers, and your environment.

Animal Factories: threatening your water, air and community

Iowa is home to over three thousand Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, or CAFOs, that concentrate animals and their waste. The manure produced – 50 million tons every year in Iowa – is mixed with water in enormous lagoons or pits, creating disposal problems and water and air pollution on a scale that would never have been possible in a diversified family farm system. Between 1992 and 2002, 329 reported manure spills in Iowa polluted rivers and killed more than 2.6 million fish. Groundwater pollution is also a serious problem; well water contaminated with nitrates from animal waste can result in methemoglobinemia, or “blue baby syndrome” and has been linked to certain cancers. And air pollution from these factory farms, including toxic hydrogen sulfide and ammonia, destroys the quality of life in many of Iowa’s rural communities, devastates property values of rural homes, and threatens public health.

Iowa’s Master Matrix

In 2002, Iowa established new CAFO regulations, which included the creation of the Master Matrix application process for new factory farms. The Matrix is a 44 question scoring system with point allocations in three categories: water, air, and community impacts. Applicants must obtain a minimum overall score of 440 out of 880 possible points, with at least 53.38 “air” points, 67.75 “water” points, and 101.13 “community impacts” points. In 2004, 86 of the 99 counties* adopted the Matrix, which allows some local control over whether a construction permit is granted for a proposed CAFO. Matrix applications are required for any proposed CAFOs over 1,000 Animal Units in size, and the county has 30 days after receiving an application to make a permit recommendation to the Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

*Counties that did not adopt the Matrix in 2004: Allamakee, Clayton, Decatur, Iowa, Johnson, Lee, Mahaska, Marshall, Shelby, Wapello, Warren, Washington, and Wayne

Iowa’s factory farm regulations fail to protect Iowa’s rural communities

Although the Matrix process was intended to give counties more local control, the scoring system is so lax that the Matrix has yet to be used to deny a single CAFO permit
Counties that have adopted the Matrix are required to issue public notice of all Matrix applications within 14 days of receipt, but are not required to hold a public hearing.
The county’s recommendation does not have to follow the results of the Matrix application, but the DNR’s final decision is based solely on compliance with the state’s CAFO regulations and the Matrix score.
If a CAFO proposal meets both requirements, the DNR must issue the permit regardless of county or public opposition.
The Matrix process is new enough that many county officials do not fully understand their responsibility to carefully analyze Matrix applications for accuracy; county oversight of the 22 Matrix applications submitted in 2003 amounted to little more than a rubber stamped approval in most cases.

What to do when a Matrix application is submitted in your county

1 Obtain copies of the Matrix application and the Manure Management Plan from your county – both are public record.

2 Find out whether the county has scheduled a public hearing; if not, request one or find out whom to submit comments to and by when.

3 Ask your county official in charge of Matrix applications what assessment he or she plans to do to check the application for accuracy; counties with the Matrix have the right to send a county officer along on the DNR’s site inspection.

4 Look for any and all possible violations of the state’s CAFO regulations:

a) Go through the Matrix application carefully; look for wrongly claimed points, especially if the applicant barely achieves the minimum overall points or the minimum required points in any one category.

b) Go through the Manure Management Plan carefully; look for wrongly calculated land areas and manure application rates.

5 Talk to the county officials before the site inspection to share your assessment of the Matrix application.

6 Submit comments or rally at a public hearing to give your county the reasons they need to recommend against the permit.

7 If your county is not cooperating with you or your group, make your case directly to the DNR – they make the final decision. But...

8 Get your county supervisors on your side! Counties with the Matrix have the right to an appeal hearing before the Environmental Protection Commission (EPC) if the DNR approves a construction permit against the their recommendation. Matrix scoring can be subjective, and if the county and the DNR disagree, the EPC can take the county’s view into consideration.

9 Don’t forget – There’s a lot of research to do on new construction permit applications, but it is also essential to build as much community opposition to the proposed factory farm as possible. Get the word out – talk to your neighbors, have an information and planning meeting, and find other people willing to present or write comments and research the construction application.

When is a new CAFO not permitted?

The 2002 CAFO regulations set certain restrictions on where factory farms may be sited. If a proposal does not meet these requirements, the DNR must deny the permit.

If the CAFO will be in a 100-year floodplain . Unfortunately, many 100-year floodplains are not yet mapped in Iowa. In the meantime, if a proposed CAFO site is on alluvial, or river-deposited, soils, the DNR must do a floodplain determination. To find out where Iowa has alluvial soils, contact the DNR-Iowa Geological Survey at (515) 242-6848 or visit your county NRCS office to see local soil surveys.

If the manure storage structure will be unformed and located on karst terrain. Unformed, or earthen, manure lagoons may not be constructed over permeable karst rock formations or on an area that drains into a known sinkhole, unless there are at least 25 feet between the structure’s floor and soluble rock. To find out if there is karst in your region, contact the DNR-Iowa Geological Survey at (319) 335-1575.

If it will not meet concrete standards. In February 2004, the state adopted new concrete standards for formed manure storage lagoons. The new rules require a Professional Engineer or a NRCS engineer to design any concrete lagoons built within 5 feet of soluble rock or any concrete lagoons more than 12 feet deep. Additionally, a professional soil analysis must be done on sites in regions with karst or sinkholes. Consider taking the CAFO engineering plans and report to an independent Professional Engineer for a second opinion on whether the proposed lagoon will be susceptible to leaks, cracks, seeps, etc. Make sure this engineer takes the area soil type and geology into consideration. Iowa’s complete concrete rules can be found at: www.state.ia.us/epd/wastewtr/feedlot/files/04adopted.pdf.

What to do with the Master Matrix

· Applicants almost always claim Matrix points related to separation distances between their confinements and manure application land and nearby streams, homes, and public areas. Check these separation distances using county maps. The DNR’s interactive Watershed Atlas can also help you get the lay of the land: www.iowadnr.com/other/mapping.html

· Check the applicant’s separation distance from the nearest protected waterway. A list of these waters can be found at: www.state.ia.us/epd/wastewtr/feedlot/files/hqwr2.pdf

· Some applicants assume they are eligible for the Family Farm Tax Credit (question 23). This only applies to farms of 10 acres or more, so check it out if someone claims those points. This property information is available on your County Assessor’s website.

What to do with the Manure Management Plan

Manure Management Plans (MMPs) are required for all CAFOs over 500 Animal Units, and are intended to ensure manure nutrients are not applied above the uptake rates of the plants or crops on the application land. MMPs for CAFO applications are available from your county. Keep in mind that CAFOs between 500 and 1,000 Animal Units must file an MMP but do not need to pass the Matrix or apply for a construction permit.

· Check the MMP to see if the areas planned for manure application include buildings, wells, waterways, and any required buffer areas around them. If the applicant fails to subtract these areas from the manure application areas, their MMP will result in too much manure on too little land. Manure application separation distance requirements are online at: http://www.state.ia.us/epd/wastewtr/feedlot/sepdstb4.pdf

· More than 2 out of 3 Iowa farms are located on Highly Erodible Land; all of these farms must have federal Conservation Compliance Plans, and these must be submitted to the DNR and the county along with every new MMP. Check the MMP against the Conservation Compliance Plan land use requirements.

· New MMPs are now required to use a Phosphorus Index, not just nitrogen uptake, when determining allowed manure application rates. Look up the nitrogen and phosphorus levels in manure for the age and species of livestock that the proposed confinement will house, and make sure the MMP calculations were done with the correct nutrient data. This information can be found at: http://www.state.ia.us/epd/wastewtr/feedlot/files/pindex0623.pdf. Also keep in mind that land planted with soybeans will take up less nitrogen than land planted with corn – make sure the MMP calculations take this into account and do not overestimate the amount of manure the land can handle. MMP forms and other information can be found at: http://www.state.ia.us/epd/wastewtr/feedlot/manure.htm

Other Ideas

· Find out if there might be endangered or threatened species in the area that could be impacted by air, water, dust, or noise pollution from the proposed CAFO. http://igsims.igsb.uiowa.edu/website/species_risk/viewer.htm

· Encourage local landowners to refuse to accept manure from the proposed CAFO – it will help your case if you can demonstrate there will not be enough land available to dispose of all the waste.

· If your county will not oppose the construction permit, your community may want to consider hiring a lawyer to write a letter declaring intent to sue if the DNR issues the permit.

For more information

Environmental impacts of factory farms: www.sierraclub.org/factoryfarms or www.iowa.sierraclub.org/education.htm

GRACE “Guide to Confronting a CAFO”: www.factoryfarm.org/guide

Iowa State Association of Counties’ Master Matrix application form and other information: www.iowacounties.org/NewMasterMatrix.htm

Iowa Department of Natural Resources: www.iowadnr.com

Iowa Manure Management Action Group: http://extension.agron.iastate.edu/immag

Or contact the Sierra Club Iowa Chapter at: iowa.chapter@sierraclub.org or (515) 277-8868

Photo courtesy of USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service