Thu, Nov 26 2009
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Carthage residents, others call for stricter odor rules “I’ve lived in my house for 12 years, and I’m 100 percent certain where the smell is coming from because it didn’t start until the plant started operating,” she said. “When you smell a skunk, you don’t have to see the skunk, or see it spray, to know what you’re smelling.”
Other speakers called for stricter regulations and said they should be applied to more than the largest concentrated animal feeding operations in the state. Currently, state odor regulations apply to a hog CAFO with 17,500 animals, “but those with 7,500 to 17,499 hogs are exempt; that’s unacceptable,” said Julie Fisher, of Arrow Rock. She said a hog CAFO under development near the Arrow Rock State Historic Site and a poultry CAFO planned near Roaring River State Park at Cassville will hurt the parks and the state. ‘Too big a net’ Several speakers representing agricultural interests said odor regulations should not be applied to the smaller CAFOs, and that other rules should not be changed. “What we’re looking at here are a lot of complaints by a few people at a few facilities,” said Robert Brundage of the Missouri Agribusiness Association. “We don’t think there’s a problem that requires addressing beyond what’s being done now.” Spokesmen for the Missouri Farm Bureau also argued that the complaints were not sufficient to trigger changes in state rules. Roger Walker, an official of a group that monitors state regulations for businesses, said the rules being proposed “cast too big a net when there’s only a few, particular problems.” He said his members also would not agree with the lower dilution ratio proposed in recommendations by environmental groups and the Missouri attorney general’s office. Proposals from both groups called for a lower dilution standard and state regulations for more than the largest CAFOs, though the attorney general’s office recommended a technology-based approach that would focus first on working with businesses to help them get into compliance. Joe Bindbeutel, assistant attorney general for agricultural and environmental issues, said the current 7-to-1 dilution is not an odor that anyone would want to be around for a continued basis. “But it’s also a hard day for everybody, including the state, when an inspector has to tell a resident that the odor that’s hurting their quality of life doesn’t reach the threshold for regulation,” he said. “We’re convinced, because of the number of complaints, their widespread nature and repetition, that something needs to be done.” 
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