Residents worried about ‘significant potential’ for groundwater contamination
BY SHEILA HARRIS sheilaharrisads@gmail.com
Leah Heidlage is sounding the alarm about the increasing number of Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) coming into southwest Missouri.
“I’m not against farming,” said Heidlage, who raises cattle with her husband, Dennis Heidlage, on a fifth-generation family farm on the Sarcoxie Prairie, northwest of Pierce City in Newton County.
“I’m not against raising chickens, either,” she said. “But, these large poultry CAFOs coming into the area are just putting money in the pockets of large corporations; they’re not serving family farmers, and they’re jeopardizing our natural resources.”
Heidlage said there were five separate permit applications on file at the same time with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) recently to construct and operate new poultry CAFOs on properties within a mile or so of the Heidlage farm. The five applications included plans for the construction of 35 broiler houses, with a total capacity of over 1.5 million birds.
If the permits were approved, all of the poultry barns, Heidlage learned, would be constructed in an area just over two miles long, to the north and south of the junction of Highways W and J, west of Wentworth.
“That’s too many chicken houses in one location,” Heidlage said. “Just think how they will affect the water in our wells. I don’t have anything against poultry farmers, but it seems like there should be limits on how many barns can be built in one area.”
According to Heather Peters, chief of the Water Pollution Control Branch of the DNR, Missouri has no such restrictions.
“State CAFO law does not establish a maximum number of CAFOs in an area, nor does it establish setback or buffer distances between CAFOs,” Peters said.
However, she said, “all CAFO permit applications are reviewed for compliance with all applicable laws and regulations, including buffer distances [and] setback distances [from public buildings, residences and drinking water sources], manure storage and all other relevant requirements.” Large poultry CAFOs are considered Class 1C operations, and, as such, neighbors within 3,000 feet of a proposed construction site must be notified by certified mail.
“Our farm was outside the range to receive a notification, but a neighbor who did receive the notice told us about the proposed CAFOs,” Heidlage said. “I sort of panicked. I didn’t know what to do, but I felt like I had to do something.”
Peters said the DNR may also request Missouri Geological Survey evaluations as part of the review and considerations process for permit applications and associated neighbor notice.
“Our regulations require a geohydrological evaluation for new, expanding, or some modified earthen basins at a CAFO, but not for other types of CAFO facilities,” Peters said. “However, the department can (and very often does) work with our geologists to ensure compliance with all applicable statutory and regulatory setback requirements, especially those associated with sensitive features like sinkholes and losing streams.”
Heidlage said she Googled “help for neighbors of CAFOs,” and was directed to a non-profit organization called Socially Responsible Agriculture Project (SRAP). According to their website, SRAP “has served as a mobilizing force to help communities protect themselves from the damages caused by industrial livestock operations” and “offers free support [to provide] communities with the knowledge and skills to protect their right to clean water, air, and soil.”
In response to a message Heidlage sent the group, SRAP member Ashlen Busick, of northern Missouri, helped Heidlage and her daughter, Kim Prince, organize a public awareness event about CAFOs at Scott Regional Technology Center in Monett on March 30. About 125 area residents were in attendance and listened to live and live-streamed presentations by former poultry contract growers from around the country and an attorney who specializes in agricultural law.
Also lending support was eastern Barry County resident, Melissa Newman, who formed a “Farms, Not Factories” private Facebook group after learning of a proposed CAFO being planned near her home.
Heidlage said suddenly finding out 35 poultry houses were planned for an area near where she lived was startling.
“If it happened to me, it could happen to anyone,” she said.
Heidlage emphasized her concern about the effect of multiple CAFOs on the groundwater that supplies private wells in her community.
Results of geohydrological surveys of some of the properties where the CAFOs are proposed indicate that the “potential for the contamination of groundwater is significant.” According to the survey results, the karst underlayment, in and near where the properties are located, contains sinkholes and mine shafts (residuals from nearby Granby’s past zinc and lead-mining), and the properties in question are located near streams with losing characteristics, features that allow surface contaminants to drain directly into groundwater below.
“In the event of wastewater treatment failure, the local shallow and regional groundwater and surface waters of the tributaries of [nearby streams] may be adversely impacted,” the Missouri Geological Survey documents said.
The no-discharge CAFO permit applications that the Sarcoxie Prairie landowners submitted to the DNR for approval require that process wastes from the CAFOs be collected and managed as fertilizer by spreading onto agricultural fields at specified agricultural rates. The applicants state that they expect to export the chicken waste off of their farms for land-application, but that they plan to store it in their barns until it’s exported.
Bird carcasses will also be kept onsite, where they will be composted in static piles in stack sheds.
A possible “wastewater treatment failure” referenced by the Missouri Geological Survey, could include allowing fresh water to come into contact with waste.
“A major source of unplanned waste from animal confinement facilities comes from clean rain water coming into contact with pollutants,” the DNR’s permit application form said.
“We really need to be vigilant about the number of CAFOs going in here, especially in one area,” Heidlage said.
Of the five CAFO permit applications submitted to the DNR in Heidlage’s community, one permit (for eight barns) has since been withdrawn. Another of the permits has been approved.
In McDonald, Barry, Newton and Lawrence counties, applications for 24 CAFO permits (each representing multiple poultry barns) have been submitted to the DNR since January 2023. Of those, 19 were/are for new poultry operations; one is for a modification to an existing operation; and four are for expansions of existing operations.
Some permits have been issued; others are awaiting approval. A complete list can be found at https://dnr. mo.gov/water/business-industry- other-entities/permits- certifications/pending/ concentrated-animal-feeding- operation-cafo-facility- applications.
Permits for three CAFOs planned near the Heidlage farm northwest of Pierce City are still awaiting approval from the DNR. Before they’re approved, Heather Peters said her department anticipates holding a public hearing in Pierce City in May.
“We’ll post a notice soon regarding a date and time,” she said.
Barry County presiding commissioner, Steve Blankenship, and a representative from the office of State Sen. Mike Moon,” R-Ash Grove, attended the public-awareness event in Monett.
MCE rep speaks on state water legislation
Melissa Vatterott, with Missouri Coalition for the Environment (MCE) was on hand at the CAFO-awareness event in Monett on March 30 to give updates about legislative matters that impact the state’s water quality.
MCE is a non-profit, non-partisan, 501(c)(3) state-level, conservation organization that campaigns for clean air, clean water and clean energy in Missouri.
Vatterott spoke specifically of proposed Missouri Senate Bills 400 and 569. Both, she said, can help preserve the quality of Missouri’s water in the face of the increasing amount of large-scale industrial agriculture.
If passed, Vatterott said, proposed Missouri Senate Bill 400 will again allow Missouri county commissions and health boards to pass and support rules and regulations that impact the agricultural industry at a local level. That authority was removed in 2019 when the governor signed into effect Senate Bill 391, which states that counties cannot enforce laws that are more stringent than state laws.
Proposed Senate Bill 569 can also impact water quality, Vatterott said. If passed, it would reinstate a public majority on the Clean Water Commission (CWC). That public representation was removed in 2016, when the Missouri Legislature passed House Bill 1713, in favor of giving water commission seats to industry representatives.
The passage of the 2016 bill, states an MCE handout, changed the membership makeup of the CWC and gave regulated entities a much larger voice, and silenced members of the public.
“Since then, the CWC has approved permits that were the subject of massive and unified public opposition,” states the MCE.
The MCE alleges that “the Clean Water Commission is currently stacked with industry-connected individuals who are not making decisions in the best interest of Missouri’s people and water.”
