Samantha Koch's List: English 102 Project : Factory Farming and Air Pollution

• Environmentally sustainable farming generally requires more crop diversity, says Thomas Dobbs, professor emeritus of economics at South Dakota State University in Brookings. "You can't just do corn/soybean cropping," as farms from Ohio to North Dakota mostly do today, he says. "You also have to have small grains like wheat or oats and some plants like clover or alfalfa," which take nitrogen from the air and return it to the soil where it acts as a fertilizer, he says.

• “Clear Skies” initiative would allow industries to buy pollution credits from cleaner plants as an alternative to installing equipment to reduce emissions.
• “Plants like it give our kids asthma, taint our fish with mercury and cause the premature death of thousands of Americans a year,” Lieberman continued. “Rather than praise polluters, our president should demand they clean up their act.”
• Despite these improvements, however, air pollution continues to sicken millions of Americans, causing or aggravating heart disease, asthma and other respiratory ailments, especially in children and the elderly.
• sulfur dioxide, which causes acid rain and contributes to smog; nitrogen oxides, which are major components of smog; and mercury, a toxic heavy metal that poisons fish and sickens humans who eat them.
• The president reversed a campaign promise to add carbon dioxide to the list of pollutants regulated by the Clean Air Act. Industrial emissions of carbon dioxide are thought to be the main cause of a potentially disastrous warming of Earth's atmosphere.
• But industry representatives say even if they accepted the need to curb greenhouse-gas emissions, treating carbon dioxide as a regulated air pollutant because of its climatic impact would make the scope of the Clean Air Act too broad. “If anything that has a potential climatic effect could be regulated under the Clean Air Act, there is virtually no human activity that wouldn't be regulated by the act,” says utility-industry advocate Segal. Manufacturing, farming and other human activities release various climate-altering gases like methane and water vapor, he points out, making those activities equally valid candidates for regulation.

4 more annotations...

• factory farms or CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations)
• Large livestock farms create huge quantities of animal waste, which produce noxious air emissions and contaminate water supplies when storage facilities leak or overflow. Overuse of antibiotics to keep animals healthy in crowded conditions helps generate drug-resistant bacteria and spread infections in humans. And many critics argue that long-term confinement in small enclosures or cages harms farm animals.
• Inside a gestation barn on Rick Rehmeier's hog farm in Augusta, Mo., the air is dusty, warm and thick. More than 400 sows are penned in individual metal crates, each with a water trough and feed dispenser. The big animals can lie down but cannot turn around. Their excrement falls through floor slats into a pit, from which it is periodically flushed outside into a so-called lagoon. Acrid whiffs of ammonia waft up from the decomposing manure.
• Large CAFOs are controlled under federal and state water pollution regulations because they produce massive quantities of animal waste that can pose environmental and health hazards if mishandled.
• Runoff can pollute streams and groundwater with antibiotics, insecticides and pathogens and emit poisonous gases that are hazardous or create offensive odors
• . Some health experts argue that because CAFO wastes threaten nearby communities, neighbors should have more say in granting permits for CAFOs.
• Groups such as the Sierra Club, the American Public Health Association and the Iowa Farmers Union — and even some counties and states — have sought or imposed moratoriums or outright bans on new CAFO construction or tightened permitting requirements for new farms.
• Contract production also allows large corporations to avoid environmental liability, says Ed Hopkins, director of environmental-quality programs at the Sierra Club. “They prescribe in detail the conditions under which animals are to be raised and leave contract operators to deal with the waste,” he says
• And many environmentalists argue that meat-based diets — especially of grain-fed animals — consume more resources than vegetarian diets.
• A recent study indicates she was right. University of Chicago geophysical science professors Gideon Eshel and Pamela Martin found that the typical meat-heavy American diet generates as many greenhouse-gas emissions — compared to a vegetarian diet — as driving a sport-utility vehicle vs. a fuel-efficient sedan. When all of its impacts are added together, from clearing land to growing feed with fertilizer and managing manure, the global livestock industry generates more greenhouse gases than the transportation sector of the economy.
• Large CAFOs — those with more than 1,000 “animal units” (1,000 beef cattle, 700 mature dairy cattle, or 2,500 hogs larger than 55 pounds) — represent only 10 percent of all factory farms but control half or more of the total animal inventory in some sectors. Concentration is especially high in the hog and poultry industries.
• In addition, residents living near massive livestock operations say they suffer from a variety of air- and water-borne illnesses resulting from CAFO-related pollution.
• People who live near large livestock farms complain about many health issues, including headaches, runny noses, sore throats, diarrhea, burning eyes, coughing, bronchitis and shortness of breath. “Air polluted with ammonia, hydrogen sulfide and dust from CAFOs is harming the health of both workers and residents living downwind from these operations,” Robert Lawrence, associate dean of John Hopkins University's School of Public Health, told the House Energy and Commerce Committee in 2005.
• “Farm waste is more strictly controlled than human waste,” says Cecelia Conway,
• A single dairy cow produces more than 20 tons of manure annually, and a hog can produce more than two tons. According to the Sierra Club, livestock operations generate 500 million tons of animal waste a year
• At big livestock operations, air pollution from decomposing manure, dust and gases produced by the animals can contain up to 160 separate chemical substances. A recent study found unsafe airborne levels of hydrogen sulfide five miles from a manure lagoon, and hydrogen sulfide levels from a Minnesota CAFO lagoon exceeded safe levels for human health 271 times in two years.
• Air emissions from factory farms can have a worldwide impact. A 2003 National Research Council study found that large-scale animal feeding operations produce nitrous oxide and methane — powerful “greenhouse gases” that cause global warming. Other gases, like ammonia and hydrogen sulfide, are primarily local hazards, the report said.
• But people who live near CAFOs complain that hog farm odors deprive them of the use of their own back yards. “They're stealing our fresh air from us,” said Michigan farmer John Zachel, who lives across the road from a hog farm.
• The National Research Council concluded, however, that available emission factors, rates and concentrations are so uncertain that they “provide a poor basis for regulating or managing air emissions” from the big factory farms. The odors could be caused by a mix of hundreds of compounds, the report said.
• the EPA offered factory farmers the option of installing up-to-date air-pollution control equipment and allowing the agency to monitor emissions. If the agency finds that factory farms are violating air-emission limits, it will then publish methods for estimating emissions. In exchange, the agency pledged not to sue the farms for past violations of the Clean Air Act or toxic and hazardous-waste laws.
• “And they're not going to monitor many sites, so we're concerned that the information won't be scientifically valid, and it will just be a long delaying game.”
• “Manure issues are covered under the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act,” says Tamara Thies, director of environmental issues for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association.
• ith the prospect of tighter water-quality and air-pollution regulations, livestock producers support more federal funding for conservation programs, such as improved manure-management systems at CAFOs.
• These are public subsidies to an inherently polluting industry, and we shouldn't continue to underwrite costs to large companies,” says the Sierra Club's Hopkins.
• New air-emission limits and bans on breeding crates could cut into producers' already-narrow profit margins, although large farms may be better-positioned to adapt than small operators who cannot afford major facility upgrades.
• The animal agriculture industry should be held responsible for the release of hazardous substances, such as arsenic and phosphorus, to the same extent that every other industry is held responsible. CERCLA already provides an exemption for the normal application of fertilizer, but it does not provide an exemption for massive disposal of animal waste far in excess of crop needs and the resulting releases of hazardous substances. . . .
• “legacy of hazardous substances and wastes which pose a serious threat to human health and the environment,” and “to clean the worst, abandoned hazardous-waste sites in the country.” The legislative history contains a litany of references to “synthetic,” “manmade” chemicals, “chemical contamination” and the results of “modern chemical technology” as the problems CERCLA intended to address. It contains no reference to an intention to clean up manure or urea, or their byproducts, from cattle or any other animal agricultural operations. . . .
• t is not “naturally occurring” and it is not composed of only ammonia, phosphorus and hydrogen sulfide. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the primary pollutants most commonly associated with animal waste are phosphorus, nitrogen, ammonia, organic matter, solids, pathogens, odorous compounds, trace metals, pesticides, antibiotics and hormones. Trace elements in manure that are of environmental concern include arsenic, copper, selenium, zinc, cadmium, molybdenum, nickel, lead, iron, manganese, aluminum and boron.
• These building blocks, or chemical “feedstocks,” are comprised of petrochemicals, inorganic raw materials and petroleum oil because “virtually all hazardous wastes and substances are generated from these. . . . Manure, urea and their byproducts, are clearly not among these materials.

27 more annotations...

• Factory-farm lagoons also emit toxic gases such as ammonia, hydrogen sulfide and methane. What's more, the farms often spray the manure onto land, ostensibly as fertilizer -- these "sprayfields" bring still more of these harmful substances into our air and water.
• , they have largely escaped pollution regulations; loopholes in the law and weak enforcement share the blame.
• and the U.S. EPA is now under court order to set tighter controls on release of pathogens into the environment by factory farms, exercise greater oversight on factory farms' pollution-reduction plans, and ensure that these plans are made available to the public.
• People who live near or work at factory farms breathe in hundreds of gases, which are formed as manure decomposes. The stench can be unbearable, but worse still, the gases contain many harmful chemicals. For instance, one gas released by the lagoons, hydrogen sulfide, is dangerous even at low levels. Its effects -- which are irreversible -- range from sore throat to seizures, comas and even death. Other health effects associated with the gases from factory farms include headaches, shortness of breath, wheezing, excessive coughing and diarrhea.
• In addition, the act of spraying wastes increases evaporation and vaporization of pollutants.

3 more annotations...

• Industrial farms, also called factory farms or CAFOs (confined animal feeding operations) pollute the air in many ways, emitting foul odors, airborne particles, greenhouse gases, and numerous toxic chemicals.
• industrial farms are leading producers of noxious substances such as nitrous oxide¹ and ammonia.² United States farms alone produce more than 400 different gases,³ in addition to dust and airborne particles known as endotoxins⁴ generated during the handling and disposal of manure, the production and use of animal feeds, and the shipping and distribution of farm products.
• the animal waste decomposes and pollutes the air with hundreds of different gases.⁶
• Additional air pollution is caused when huge amounts of stored manure are sprayed onto fields.
• Hydrogen sulfide, methane, ammonia, and carbon dioxide are the major hazardous gases produced by decomposing manure.⁸ The EPA estimates that methane emissions from manure increased by 26 percent in the United States between 1990 and 2004, due primarily to larger, more concentrated dairy cow and swine facilities.⁹ North Carolina's hog industry alone produces about 300 tons of ammonia each day.¹⁰
• In 2004, the EPA estimated that 20 percent of all man-made methane production resulted from livestock digestion, primarily cows,¹¹ which on factory farms are kept alive with low-quality grain-based feed that their bodies were not designed to digest. This feed fattens animals cheaply but causes chronic indigestion that contributes to higher methane emissions.¹² Producing the vast crops required for this animal feed also pollutes the air with soil management techniques, especially the use of synthetic fertilizers, that were responsible for 68 percent of all nitrous oxide released into the atmosphere in 2004.
• • Hydrogen Sulfide is a gas that limits the ability of cells to use oxygen. Exposure to hydrogen sulfide in high levels can cause skin, eye, and respiratory irritation, neurologic and cardiac disorders, seizures, comas, and death. Chronic exposure at lower levels can cause low blood pressure, headache, chronic cough, and psychological disorders.¹⁴ Hydrogen sulfide is generally associated with hog production facilities.
   
  • Ammonia can cause irritation of the eyes, skin, and respiratory tract.¹⁵ It is released in large quantities by chicken and hog CAFOs.
   
  • Particulate matter is a leading cause of bronchitis and asthma in people who are regularly exposed to it and can also be a cause of cardiac disorders including arrhythmia and heart attacks.¹⁶
   
  • Endotoxins, poisons produced by dying bacteria, are found in high concentrations on factory farms, but can cause respiratory problems even in extremely low concentrations.¹⁷
   
  • Carbon dioxide is a byproduct of decomposing manure that causes shortness of breath and dizziness in humans, and often kills confined animals by asphyxiation.¹⁸
   
  • Methane is a major contributor to climate change. According to the EPA, methane is 23 times as potent as carbon dioxide and is the second most important contributor to the greenhouse effect, now accounting for 16 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions from human activity.¹⁹
• As many as 70 percent of workers on CAFOs experience acute bronchitis, while 25 percent contract chronic bronchitis.
• most likely as a result of dust inhalation.²¹ Some of the gases produced on factory farms also are fatal in high concentrations
• In the United States, at least 12 cases were documented over five years of workers dying from asphyxiation in manure pits
• Residents of communities near hog farms often have increased respiratory problems.²³ A number of studies have demonstrated that fatigue, depression, and mood disturbances occur in higher proportions in people living near such facilities.²⁴ A study of one town in Utah found a four-fold increase in diarrhea-related hospitalizations and a three-fold increase in respiratory-related hospitalizations over a five-year period during which an industrial hog farm was constructed and started operating.²⁵ Minnesota's Pollution Control Agency has documented hydrogen sulfide concentrations in excess of World Health Organization maximum exposure standards on properties neighboring industrial hog facilities.²⁶ A 2006 study comparing two rural Iowa elementary schools, one located near a CAFO and one not, found a significant prevalence of asthma in children at the school near the factory farm.²⁷
• Air pollution from farms directly affects the environment, chiefly through the production of gaseous nitrogen and some of the greenhouse gases responsible for global warming. About 80 percent of U.S. ammonia emissions came from livestock manure.²⁸ As a report from the National Academy of Sciences explains, atmospheric ammonia and nitric oxide—both produced on farms—contribute to what is known as the "nitrogen cascade," in which each ammonia molecule "can, in sequence, impact atmospheric visibility, soil acidity, forest productivity, terrestrial ecosystem biodiversity, stream acidity, and coastal productivity."²⁹ Particulate emissions from factory farms also contribute to haze.³⁰ Through the production of greenhouse gases—primarily methane and nitrous oxide—the agricultural industry was directly responsible for 6 percent of the U.S. contribution to global warming in 2004, according to the EPA.³¹
• A number of techniques can reduce the emissions and effects of air pollutant from industrial farms, including better storage of manure, air-breaks positioned near farms, and increased attention to the nutritional needs of specific types of livestock.³
• While most pollutants emitted by farms are regulated under the federal Clean Air Act, most federal enforcement is focused on cars and non-farm factories.
• In 2008 the Bush Administration published a rule exempting CAFOs from federal reporting requirements for hazardous emissions

13 more annotations...