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Farms can be held liable for pollution from manure: U.S. court
Yahoo News ^ | 1/17/15 | Ayesha Rascoe- Rueters

Posted on 01/17/2015 4:05:36 PM PST by NormsRevenge

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. federal court has ruled for the first time that manure from livestock facilities can be regulated as solid waste, a decision hailed by environmentalists as opening the door to potential legal challenges against facilities across the country.

A large dairy in Washington state, Cow Palace Dairy, polluted ground water by over applying manure to soil, ruled Judge Thomas Rice of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington on Wednesday.

"The practices of this mega-dairy are no different than thousands of others across the country," said Jessica Culpepper, an attorney at Public Justice, one of the firms that represented the plaintiffs, a collection of public advocacy groups.

The case is scheduled to go to trial in March to decide the extent of the contamination and the clean-up.

This is the first time the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, which governs the disposal of solid and hazardous waste, has been applied to animal waste from a farm.

Industrial livestock operations produce hundreds of millions of tons of manure annually.

The district court ruling, if upheld, could affect any large livestock facility that produces more manure than it can responsibly manage, including poultry, beef and hog farms, Culpepper said.

An attorney for Cow Palace said on Friday that it plans to ask for an appeal.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Government
KEYWORDS: animalwaste; epaoutofcontrol; farmers; farms; liable; manure; pollution; regulatemanure; solidwaste
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To: NormsRevenge

UN Agenda 21 at work to eliminate the non-oligarchs.


41 posted on 01/17/2015 4:55:37 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum (Offend a Christian and he is obliged to pray for you. Offend a Muslim and he is obliged to kill you.)
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To: gogeo
For those of you unfamiliar with farming, that’s called “organic farming.”

Beeutifull!

FMCDH(BITS)

42 posted on 01/17/2015 4:58:14 PM PST by nothingnew (Hemmer and MacCullum are the worst on FNC)
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To: Balding_Eagle

I’m so very sorry to offend.

Please give me a list comments that you will allow, and I will make sure that I pick from the list.

Until then, I will monitor the water from my well. I didn’t know that those of us who live in the country were fair game for industrial interests, or do you think an industrial cattle operation is Ma and Pa Kettle will a few happy cows?


43 posted on 01/17/2015 5:00:43 PM PST by Regal
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To: NormsRevenge
"...a decision hailed by environmentalists as opening the door to potential legal challenges against facilities across the country. "

Instead of taking care of this on an as-need basis, the environazis have managed to sneak it through a federal court which let this ruling apply nationwide. That's what's got my dander up.

And how to hold these bastards accountable? Maybe try playing their game back against them! Sue them! Hound them, make their lives miserable the way their followers do ours! Use their tactics against them, give them no peace. It may be undignified, but they sleep well at night, and until tactics change, they will be happy to live with this status quo. Remember the protest to get Gore out of the VP's residence? Something like that, but bigger...with specialized targets [so to speak]. /rant

44 posted on 01/17/2015 5:02:01 PM PST by W. (Bureaucracy kills enterprise, and communism doesen't work. Any OTHER bright ideas, 0bama?)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Don’t worry, there won’t be any regulations on tofu.


45 posted on 01/17/2015 5:12:01 PM PST by mia
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To: NormsRevenge
"According to the ruling, Cow Palace has 11,000 cows that create more than 100 million gallons of manure annually."

http://islandbreath.blogspot.com/2015/01/dairy-polluted-groundwater.html

Farming?


46 posted on 01/17/2015 5:12:55 PM PST by Mr Rogers (Can you remember what America was like in 2004?)
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To: Mr Rogers

that’s 250 gals per cow per day.

Highly sceptical of those numbers


47 posted on 01/17/2015 5:17:35 PM PST by digger48
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To: dennisw
"If you have e dairy with 2000 cows and your total fields are only 5 acres....... Dumping all your manure and cow shit on those five acres will pollute the water."

Once saw a dairy farm sludge (manure) pond that collapsed and poured into the Greenbrier River in WV. Not a pretty nor aromatic sight. The problem with the EPA though is eventually, if you dogs poop in your back yard, you will be fined.

48 posted on 01/17/2015 5:18:03 PM PST by buckalfa (First time listener, long time caller.)
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To: digger48

I get 25 gallon/cow/day. That is liquified manure. I don’t know what the ratio would be...it would take a lot of added water to make the manure from my 3 horses liquid.

” A mature dairy cow weighing 1,400 pounds can generate around 14 gallons (about 120 pounds or 1.9 cubic feet) of feces and urine each day with an average as-excreted solids content of around 12 percent.”

http://www.extension.org/pages/15476/liquid-manure-storage-ponds-pits-and-tanks#.VLsKtB1ozgE

So less than a 50:50 water addition would get you to the figure cited.


49 posted on 01/17/2015 5:26:20 PM PST by Mr Rogers (Can you remember what America was like in 2004?)
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To: digger48

The actual waste from one cow is more like a large scoop shovel of semi-solid and several gallons of urine per day. Much water is added for handling via pumps.


50 posted on 01/17/2015 5:29:47 PM PST by hoosierham (Freedom isn't free)
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To: Regal

OMG. Where do you think food comes from?


51 posted on 01/17/2015 5:30:04 PM PST by BykrBayb (Where there is life, there is hope. - Terri Schiavo ~ Þ)
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To: Mr Rogers

That sounds more like it. Musta got an extra zero on my calculator


52 posted on 01/17/2015 5:30:27 PM PST by digger48
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To: NormsRevenge; All

They mean to shut down all growing of foods except Monsanto Frankenfoods - which are patented - (Monsanto: hitched t the hip with DC)

“He who controls the food, controls the people.” (Age old mantra of Despots.)

SAve up your non-hybrid seeds - and dessicated manure.

They are shutting down small farms and back yard/front yard gardens, making it a crime to collect rainwater off your roof -

Prepare and provide...fill your lamps and trim your wicks - long dark nights could be coming.


53 posted on 01/17/2015 5:30:48 PM PST by maine-iac7 (Christian is as Christian does - by their fruits ye shall know them.)
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To: NormsRevenge
A use for Cow Dung .
54 posted on 01/17/2015 5:33:21 PM PST by moose07 (The Camels have reached the parking lot. Shields up!)
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To: Regal

“It reads like the dairy was dumping waste on the fields.”
Well, manure. A well-known fertilizer.

The farm is acting within the rules of the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act which are the laws that were written to apply.

This judge is ruling that they are subject to laws developed to apply to landfills.


55 posted on 01/17/2015 5:34:21 PM PST by mrsmith (Dumb sluts: Lifeblood of the Media, Backbone of the Democrat Party!)
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To: Revel

“If you were take a crap in an open field the DEC could hall your butt to jail for contamination.”

I have a friend that was ticketed by NYSDEC for peeing in the woods during deer season a few years back.


56 posted on 01/17/2015 5:36:44 PM PST by panaxanax
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To: dennisw
If you have e dairy with 2000 cows and your total fields are only 5 acres.

ahahah - 2,000 would be hard put to fit shoulder to shoulder on 5 acres, and would starve right quick - need a better example?

57 posted on 01/17/2015 5:36:47 PM PST by maine-iac7 (Christian is as Christian does - by their fruits ye shall know them.)
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To: Farmer Dean
We always figured that one acre of ground per animal was about right.

Depends where you are.

In the east, about right - in the west, gonna need a LOT MORE per animal

58 posted on 01/17/2015 5:38:19 PM PST by maine-iac7 (Christian is as Christian does - by their fruits ye shall know them.)
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To: NormsRevenge

Went to a high tech diary a few times with my sons’ Boy Scout troup.

The place was amazing. I had spent many summers working on my Uncle’s diary growing up and to see their operation was fascinating to me.

The pains they went thru to prevent “nutrient-rich runoff” (manure) was extraordinary.


59 posted on 01/17/2015 5:40:23 PM PST by 5thGenTexan
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To: hoosierham

I wonder how many people realize where municipal sewage solids ends up.

Merrell Brothers are now gazillionaires hauling, drying and applying the solids to farmland from wastewater treatment plants in multiple states. At least these guys do a good job of keeping it controlled.

And since most treatment plants are located in very close proximity to large creeks and streams, what happens when we have floods?


60 posted on 01/17/2015 5:42:01 PM PST by digger48
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