National CAFO News

Latest National CAFO News

The misbegotten promise of anaerobic digesters – The Counter

March 9, 2021

by Jessica McKenzie

Federal agencies and state governments are spending millions on anaerobic digesters to wring renewable energy from animal poop. But critics say “cow power” from factory farms is neither clean nor green.

At a glance, anaerobic digesters seem like the perfect solution to one of society’s many messes: They take the waste from cows, pigs, and...

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Ohio EPA agrees to TMDL for western Lake Erie – Toledo Blade

February 13, 2020

The state of Ohio appears ready to institute something environmental groups have been clamoring for since Toledo’s 2014 algae-driven water crisis: a Total Maximum Daily Load, or TMDL, for western Lake Erie.

TMDLs are so-called “pollution diets” for ecosystems. They are designed to track down specific sources of pollution, and hold polluters accountable. In the case of Ohio’s agricultural industry, a TMDL would, in...

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U.S.- CANADA Board: The Great Lakes Have a Manure Problem

January 26, 2020

The Center for Public Integrity - Jamie Smith Hopkins, Environment Editor and Senior Reporter

“It is a profound injustice that the citizens of Toledo have had to clean up a mess that other people have made,” Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz said in an interview.

An advisory panel for a U.S.-Canada commission is calling for government agencies in the Great Lakes region to...

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Lake Erie Turns Toxic Every Summer. Voluntary Approach Total Failure

January 23, 2020

The Center for Public Integrity - Jamie Smith Hopkins, Environment Editor and Senior Reporter

OREGON, Ohio — It was sunny and 82 degrees, a perfect August day for a trip to the public beach just outside Toledo. But hardly anyone was here. And no one was swimming. “DANGER,” warned a red sign posted in the sand near the edge of Lake...

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‘It’s The Dairy Farm Sewer’: Neighbors Say State Is Failing To Regulate Agricultural Pollution

December 9, 2019

VPR News - John Dillon

Laurel Casey counts herself as a casualty of farm pollution.

Her small, lakeshore house in Bridport has been damaged by runoff from the farm fields above her. She said she’s had trouble renting out a camp on the property because the bay just feet away is often choked with potentially toxic blue-green algae....

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Ohio cities want pig manure treated like human waste to protect Lake Erie from harmful algal blooms

October 3, 2019

By  -

CLEVELAND, Ohio – The cities of Toledo and Oregon, as well as surrounding Lucas County, want to stop manure from causing harmful algal blooms in Lake Erie.

So they’re asking the state to require two proposed confined-animal feeding operations -- with a total of 14,400 swine in the...

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Toledo officials spurred by prospect of more livestock farms – Toledo Blade

October 2, 2019

Toledo Blade - Tom Henry

Elected officials in the Toledo area have taken a new approach in their ongoing battle against large livestock operations that contribute to Lake Erie’s harmful algae blooms.

They’re asking the Ohio Department of Agriculture to require that all manure from such facilities get treated to the standards of human-made sewage before it’s spread on fields as fertilizer.

Toledo...

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20,000 Gallons Of Liquid Manure Leaked From MN Farm’s Storage Tank

September 26, 2019

 

HOLDINGFORD (MN) -- Around 20,000 gallons of liquid manure leaked out of an above-ground storage tank near Holdingford, according to the Stearns County Sheriff's department.

63-year-old Mark Leukam of Albany reported an ongoing leak from the tank Wednesday. The tank, which can hold up to 400,000 gallons of liquid manure, contained around 350,000 gallons at the time the leak was reported.

Authorities say the...

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Dogs Are Dying in Water Across America – and Here’s Why

August 26, 2019

24/7 Wall Street - Douglas A McIntyre

The State of New Jersey recently warned people not to swim in Lake Hopatcong, the state’s largest lake. In fact, people have been told not to touch it. Large parts of Lake Erie, one of the biggest freshwater lakes in the world, are unsafe for dogs to swim...

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Eight manure lagoons overflow in western Iowa because of flooding

March 25, 2019

Runoff can kill fish, degrade water quality for drinking and recreation

Spring flooding is causing problems for western Iowa animal feeding operations, with overflowing manure lagoons reported at eight northwest Iowa feedlots and farmers telling of other challenges, including difficulty getting water to animals.

Eastern Iowa so far has been spared widespread major flooding, but state Department of Natural Resources...

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