Water Policy PanelAngela Hamm – Water Policy Director, Hoosier Environmental Council

Bowden Quinn – Conservation Program Coordinator for the Sierra

Club, Hoosier Chapter Jeanette Neagu – President, Save the Dunes Board of Directors

Hoosier Environmental Council

Water Policy PrioritiesAngela Hamm, Water Policy

DirectorFalon French, Water Policy

Associate

Confined Feeding• Raising of animals for food,

fur or recreation in lots, pens, ponds, sheds or buildings

• Confined, fed and maintained for at least 45 days during any year

• Any animal feeding operation engaged in the confined feeding of at least 300 cattle, or 600 swine or sheep, or 30,000 fowl

Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations

• CAFO Animal Threshold Numbers:

700 mature dairy cows2,500 swine 55,000 turkeys,30,000 laying hens or broilers (with a liquid manure handling system)125,000 broilers (with a solid manure handling system)

• These farms are defined as point

sources by the CWA and are required to obtain permit coverage

Animal Waste• Collected and stored in pits, tanks, lagoons and other storage

devices • Applied to area fields as fertilizer• When stored and applied properly it provides a natural source of

nutrients for crop production

Environmental and Health Concerns

• Manure can leak or spill from storage pits, lagoons or tanks • Improper application of manure to the land can impair surface or

ground water quality• Overuse of antibiotics can lead to antibiotic resistance in

humans

Indiana• 625 CAFOs produce more than 80% of livestock raised

in Indiana• Approximately 3,000 regulated farms• 3.6 million hogs

Location of industrial

agriculture operations in Indiana

Muncie Sow Unit Who Cleans Up when the hog farm goes

bankrupt?

• 4.5 million gallons of manure deliberately spilled into a ditch eventually made its way into the Mississenawa River killing 1,017 fish

• IDEM had declared an emergency and planned to transport 4-5 million gallons of manure to Indianapolis for treatment at a wastewater treatment plant at a cost of aprox. $405,000

• Cost of over $200,000

Randolph County Fish Kill• 232,000 gallons of hog manure

applied onto a field upstream of a major fish kill during rainy weather in June

• Over 106,000 fish died in Bear Creek and the Mississinewa River the weekend of June 19-20

• Producer subsequently admitted to land applying additional manure on an adjacent field. The fields were empty

Grand Lake St. Mary’s, Ohio• 80% of Grand Lake watershed is farmland• 629,504 tons of manure produced every year• Majority of the problem results from the land application of manure

and commercial fertilizers • July 30, 2010 Action Plan has significance for Indiana as Ohio has

determined to “Foster efforts to export more manure from the watershed”

• 90% of the chicken manure and 75% of the turkey manure (90,000 tons in 2008) is sold out of state and exported by poultry litter brokers

• Ohio has requested EQIP funds to facilitate the transport of hog manure to Indiana

Legislation• Financial assurance package• Phase out of non-therapeutic use of

antibiotics in livestock• Phosphorous Free Lawn Fertilizer• Out of State import of waste • Satellite manure lagoons• Staging and storage of manure• Increased setbacks

What You Can Do• Support laws that hold industrial agriculture accountable• Contact your legislator and advocate for

– industry financial assurance– a ban on the use of antibiotics in livestock for feed efficiency

and growth promotion– increase setbacks from Indiana waterways

• Postcards available at HEC table• Change your consumer habits.

Coal• Numerous negative water quality

impacts of coal that occur through its mining, processing, burning, waste storage and transport including, acid mine drainage, burial of streams and rivers, coal sludge disposal, deposition from coal fired power plants, and coal ash

•Coal ash - a byproduct of burning coal for electricity

•Ash contains concentrated levels of heavy metals and minerals: arsenic, lead, mercury, selenium, thallium, boron, and many others

Coal Ash Waste

Indiana• 3rd highest producer of coal ash, 1st in tons

stored

• 53 surface ponds (most in nation), mostly unlined, where coal ash is mixed with water

• Unlined ponds allow leaching into groundwater

• Town of Pines and East Mt. Carmel: groundwater/drinking water contamination

•States currently set standards for coal ash; Indiana is failing to protect the health of its citizens•U.S. EPA in current rulemaking process; comment period through November 19, 2010•Proposed two options: coal ash classified as Subtitle C (hazardous waste) will protect the health of Hoosiers; other option will allow the state to continue with current lack of health safeguards•Please weigh in! www.hecweb.org

Questions• Angela Hamm, Water Policy Director, Hoosier

Environmental Council– ahamm@hecweb.org– (317) 685-8800 ext. 116

• Falon French, Water Policy Associate, Hoosier Environmental Council– ffrench@hecweb.org– (317) 685-8800 ext. 101