Paul pitches CFO bill (1/26/05)

Concerns about the growth and possible impact of large livestock farms in East Central Indiana and around the state are the focus of a bill filed by an area state senator.

State Sen. Allen Paul (R-Richmond), whose 27th District includes Jay, Randolph and Wayne counties, has submitted a bill that could stiffen consequences for confined feeding operators that have violations.

“I wanted to start the talking, to get the groups together and begin to try to work something out for the entire state that would not only control it ... but have things that people could live with,” Paul said in a phone interview this morning.

The bill, which was considered Monday in the Indiana Senate Energy and Environmental Affairs Committee, would give a state agency the power to revoke CFO or CAFO (concentrated animal feeding operations) permits after three violations of regulations or water quality laws over a two-year period.

That “three strikes” provision was intended as a starting point for negotiations, Paul said.

The bill was filed at the urging of those who battled unsuccessfully against the permitting of a 1,650-head dairy operation southwest of Winchester last year. Union-Go Dairy, operated by Tony Goltstein of The Netherlands, received its Indiana Department of Environmental Management permit in the fall of 2004.

The operation falls under the state’s CAFO regulations.

The energy and environmental affairs committee, which is chaired by State Sen. Beverly Gard (R-Greenfield), is expected to change language and add amendments this week. The bill could come up for a vote by the committee on Monday.

He said Monday’s committee hearing was run smoothly by Gard, and that people on both sides of the issue were respectful.

“Everybody seemed to sit down and talk like adults. I think they feel like this is an opportunity to get something done ... Now we’ve got to craft something we think we can get through the legislature,” Paul said.

Paul said that among those he talked to prior to filing the bill was Barbara Sha Cox, a Richmond resident who owns property in Randolph County who was among the most vocal opponents of the Union-Go Dairy.

The bill is “not pushed by paid lobbyists or people that are at the Statehouse everyday ... They’re not trying to do away with these dairy operations, but they’re trying to make them accountable,” Paul said.

IDEM, which is charged with regulating and enforcing state laws on large livestock operations, has submitted its input on the bill to Paul, who said he plans to review those recommendations today or Thursday.[[In-content Ad]]