Factory Farms: Polluting the Environment and Getting Away with It

Overwhelmingly, U.S. farm animals raised for meat, eggs, and milk are confined inside barren warehouses, overcrowded cages, or restrictive pens or stalls on factory farms. Not only do industrialized factory farms endanger the welfare of animals, they also create a tremendous amount of pollution with devastating consequences for the environment and public health in surrounding communities.

Because tens—if not hundreds—of thousands of animals are intensively confined at a single facility, factory farms generate massive amounts of manure. A pig can produce two to four times more waste than a human, and a cow 23 times more. In total, 130 times more animal waste is produced than human waste each year.

Nevertheless, the agribusiness lobby is pushing Congress to pass H.R. 4341, which would exempt these industrialized facilities—some of which generate as much waste as a small city—from the same pollution-reporting and clean-up requirements applicable to all other industrial sectors.

Industrial-Scale Pollution from Industrial-Scale Farms

Factory farm wastes are a major pollution issue. Unlike the small family farms that they are driving out of business, industrial-sized factory farms generate industrial-scale, toxic pollution that can—and does—contaminate nearby streams, lakes, and local water bodies, threatening drinking water supplies with pathogens, chemicals, and antibiotics added to feed.

Oklahoma recently sued several poultry factory farms for releasing into the Illinois River phosphorus and nitrogen compounds, arsenic, zinc, and copper, all substances deemed "hazardous" under federal environmental laws. The City of Waco, Texas, spent millions of dollars to clean up algae pollution in its drinking water supply caused by excessive phosphorous from industrial dairy operations in the watershed. The city projects that the cost of new water treatment facilities to address water quality problems will exceed $80 million.

Factory farms don't only pollute water. Manure waste can emit hundreds of types of gases, including hydrogen sulfide, which can cause eye, nose, and throat irritation, and ammonia, an irritant that can cause death at high levels. In fact, agricultural operations are the largest source of toxic ammonia air pollution in the United States. The air around factory farms also becomes contaminated with suspended dust particles, which have been linked to asthma, bronchitis, and other diseases.

Getting Away with It

Despite the massive amount of pollution released by factory farms, the agriculture lobby is urging Congress to exempt these facilities from environmental and right-to-know laws. Currently, two federal laws, called CERCLA (the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act) and EPCRA (the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act) require that facilities that produce above a certain amount of pollution—based on human health effects—must report the amount they have emitted to the EPA and local emergency responders. Reports from several factory farms show pollution levels far beyond the triggering amounts, sometimes exceeding such triggers by 40 times. These pollution reports not only inform local residents about the quality of their environment, they provide local emergency personnel with information necessary to respond to spills, accidents, and health problems from day-to-day exposure.

Current reporting requirements are minimal. Facilities that regularly pollute over the reporting trigger can avoid routine reporting simply by submitting an annual report of all emissions.

But even these minimal requirements are too much for factory farms. The agriculture industry has pressed for a bill, H.R. 4341 in the House, that would exempt factory farm pollution from CERCLA and EPCRA requirements. Although nothing has yet been offered in the Senate, parallel legislation is expected at any time. This legislation would treat factory farms differently than every other industrial sector, despite pollution from factory farms matching and even exceeding the amount of pollution from other industrial sectors.

Factory farms should be required to follow environmental laws, just like all other major polluting industries. People have a right to know about these facilities, which are putting public health at risk, devastating the environment, and causing terrible animal suffering. Please support animals, the environment, and rural neighbors by contacting your two U.S. Senators and your U.S. Representative and urging them to oppose legislation exempting factory farms from basic environmental requirements. You can reach your federal legislators by calling the U.S. Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121, or click here to find your Senators' and Representative's office phone numbers.

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