August 11, 2006

 

Residents challenge permits for hog farms in US state Kentucky

 

 

About 70 residents are challenging the environmental permits issued to allow nine large hog farms in three western Kentucky counties, The Courier-Journal reported.

 

The Kentucky Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet issued permits for the farms in Fulton, Hickman and Carlisle counties, with each farm having about 5,000 hogs and producing a total of at least 16 million gallons of liquid waste per year, the newspaper reported.

 

That waste would be spread on fields as fertiliser, according to filings with the cabinet's administrative appeals office.

 

Attorney Tom Fitzgerald, director of the Kentucky Resources Council, which filed the appeal, said residents are concerned about strong odours and water pollution created by storm runoff. Fitzgerald said the state's permits for the farms are inadequate, according to the newspaper article.

 

"That much waste has to be managed," Fitzgerald said.

 

Caleb DeWeese, 24, a third-generation hog farmer in Hickman County, told the newspaper that precautions will safeguard the environment.

 

"I'm not going to tell you they don't stink," he said of modern hog farms. "But it's minimal."

 

Chuck Wolfe, spokesman for the state environmental agency, said the cabinet would file a written response with an administrative hearings officer in coming weeks.

 

A hearing officer will handle the appeal, and eventually make a recommendation to Environmental and Public Protection Secretary LaJuana Wilcher. Any decision by Wilcher can be taken to court.