
Construction of big hog-producing facilities known as CAFOs is regulated by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, but not very well. A few Iowa legislators have recognized that and are calling for a small change in the process to approve a CAFO and provide for disposing of the manure.
A study by the Iowa Policy Project last November demonstrated the legislatively imposed shortcomings of the present approval process. The proposed legislation, HSB168, would make a small improvement by shining more light on the process and allowing neighbors the ability to comment to their local county supervisors about shortcomings in plans for the proposed CAFO and its tons of manure.
The proposed bill would not allow the supervisors to stop a project but it would give more information to the Iowa DNR and its citizen bosses on the Environmental Protection Commission. That information might be used to modify plans for locating the facility and providing for manure disposal.
This small step would give neighbors another way to influence a change in their neighborhood.
Posted by David Osterberg, Executive Director