The Rural Voice, 1999-10, Page 16People vs. Pigs: Summer residents (and some farmers) want protection from pollution from large hog barns.
Along with the usual
activities of
swimming, boating
and walking on the beach,
many cottage owners along
Lake Huron from Grand
Bend to Port Elgin added
another activity this past
summer — going to
meetings to express their
concern over the dangers
of large livestock operations —
particularly hog barns.
They were joined oftentimes by
other farmers, worried that the big
barns could pollute streams, foul
wells and make their neighbour-
hood's air unbreathable.
The issue has been smoldering for
the last couple of years as large hog
operations began to drift westward
toward Lake Huron where cottages
line the shores. sometimes four and
five street deep. Discovery, last May,
that two large northern Huron
County hog barns were leaking liquid
manure into underground municipal
drains from their under -barn storage
tanks fanned the flames, confirming
the worst fears of critics and
undermining any assurances farm
and government leaders could give
that the big barns were safe.
Now, all along the coast there are
demands for a moratorium on
construction of,large hog barns. In
September, Kincardine -Bruce -
Tiverton Township council joined
their neighbours in Saugeen Shores
and Arran-Elderslie by passing an
interim control bylaw that puts a six-
month freeze on the building of all
large livestock operations.
To the south, Grand Bend village
council unanimously supported a
concept developed by David Cody, a
local cottager from Toronto. Cody's
proposal would create an "area of
excellence" from Bayfield to Kettle
Fixing the Cracks
Fuelled by leaks from two large hog operations
critics and local governments demand changes
in regulations to bring big barns under control
12 THE RURAL VOICE
By Keith Roulston
Point which would include a
moratorium on construction of large
hog barns. Cody is approaching all
other municipalities in the area
seeking their support.
"This is no longer family
farming," Cody was quoted as telling
the council. "We have to treat them
like factories."
It's a refrain that is heard over and
over again all along the coast. In
September an angry crowd packed
the St. Joseph's Church Hall in
Kingsbridge. north of Goderich, to
hear from Ministry of the
Environment and OMAFRA officials
about what was being done about the
barns that had spilled manure into
drains. Mostly members of the group
PROTECT, which has been fighting
large hog barns for two years, they
were not reassured by what they
heard from a panel that included
Chris Hutt, senior environmental
officer with the MOE, John Johnson,
engineer, structural design with
OMAFRA, Dan Carlow, field service
manager with OMAFRA in Huron
and Perth and Sam Bradshaw,
environmental communications
specialist with Ontario Pork.
Over and over again audience
members questioned why liquid
manure tanks for large livestock
operations, which can produce as
much manure as a small town, should
not be subject to the same standards
of inspection as treatment systems for
human waste. If the Ashfield
Township barns had been
subject to the same
inspections the Ministry of
Environment gives sewage
treatment holding areas, the
spill might not have
happened. speakers
suggested. Agricultural
practices are exempt from
many provisions of the
Environmental Protection
Act (EPA) that would apply to
industries.
"Why is agriculture exempt?" one
questioner wondered.
Klaus Seeger, senior health
inspector with the Huron County
Health Unit agrees it is perhaps time
the EPA exemption for agriculture
was withdrawn. Currently, for
instance, the EPA makes it illegal to
discharge into the natural
environment (which would include
farm fields) any form of contaminant
but a subsection says this "does not
apply to animal wastes disposed of in
accordance with normal farming
practices".
But, Seeger says, what is
considered a "normal farm practice"
is a great deal different than normal
farm practices in the 1970s.
Because of the exemption for
agriculture, Seeger says, the MOE
can only react when something goes
wrong on a Targe livestock operation.
If the exemption for agriculture was
removed, the MOE would be able to
inspect storage systems and put
conditions on the structure before
granting their approval. The ministry
could also draft new regulations that
would deal with large livestock
operations as if they were industries.
That kind of talk frightens many
farmers who don't operate large
livestock numbers.
Unless some solution to the
problem of large livestock operations