Stench Alerts – 2013
Dec 30 – yep, no change in winter application of manure. With no consideration of neighbors at the holidays, no consideration of the goopy ground, freezing up fast with temps dropping fast, 17º this morning, Bakerlads is applying liquid manure along Cadmus Rd east of Morey.
Dec 19 – Hartland Farms CAFO applying manure on snow-covered ground, south of Beecher Rd, west of Hughes Hwy – before predicted thaw.
Nov 16 – Before predicted storms and heavy rain, Hartlands Farms draglining on fields north and south of Cadmus Rd, east of Hughes. Fields are black with liquid manure.
Black manure field off Cadmus Rd, Hartland Farms draglining
Nov 15 – Neighbor near White Farm reports, “AGAIN very strong smell of pig poo around the 127 Prattville rd area..ugh.”
Nov 13 – Hartland Farms is draglining, liquid manure on snow, on corn stubble, 1/2 mi south of Beecher east of Hughes Hwy.
Oct 27 – Neighbor reports emissions from Bleich Dairy, “Nauseating, putrid, gagging stench upon arrival home after work.”
Oct 7 – Extreme emissions over several days from Hartland Farms. (See Oct 3 below) Hydrogen Sulfide readings on 2 days at a neighbor’s home show severe, chronic exposure, a risk to health. This is the neighbor transported Oct 5 by ambulance to hospital with “extreme stress in breathing.” New Mexico, New York, and Kentucky have 1-hour air standards for Hydrogen Sulfide of 10 ppb. This is 1,200 ppb inside a residence! The World Health Organization recommends exposure no higher than 10.6ppb over a 24-hr period. Where can neighbors go to breathe safe air? If not in their own homes?
Lower number shows Hydrogen Sulfide level on 10-4-13 at 0.7ppm (700ppb) next to Hartland Farms manure field; on 10-7-13, Hydrogen Sulfide reaches 1.2ppm (1,200ppb) inside a neighbor’s house.
Oct 5 – Neighbor of Hartland Farms, ill and living next to manure application (see Oct. 3) was taken by ambulance to the emergency room with “extreme stress in breathing.” Still awful at Bleich CAFO, with details from a neighbor: “Went out after work to check on the animals, couldn’t wait to get back inside as the putrid odor from Bleich Dairy was nauseating.”
Oct 4 – Report from neighbor of Bleich Dairy: “Putrid, gagging, very strong urine ammonia, stench… Couldn’t wait to unlock the front door and escape into the house.”
Oct 3 – A Registered Nurse and ECCSCM volunteer visited neighbors in distress from Hartland Farms manure application. This account was sent to MDARD and DEQ:
“On Thursday afternoon Oct. 3rd. I took an hour off of work to answer a distress call from Hartland Farm’s neighbors. I was standing on the property line of Hartland Farm’s very sick neighbor… when Hartland farms swung around with the manure hauler and started plastering the heavy solids, literally in our faces, not a 100 feet away. [Neighbor] was on his way to a radiation treatment, a daily event. He was showing some improvement in his health until Hartland plastered thick, bottom of the manure pit “solids” right next to [Neighbor]’s house. From my inspection on all the fields observed, the heaviest applications were right next to [Neighbor]’s house, where his car is, where he has to somehow get from a wheelchair to the passenger seat of a car every day to go for treatment. In public health, [Neighbor] is known as the “frail elderly”. A life long farmer forced to spend his last days trying to breathe. I am a nurse. I was trying to breathe too. [Neighbor]’s son stood beside me, showing signs of respiratory distress. [Neighbor] went on to his appointment with another family member. His son and I watched as Hartland swung around right in our faces and began applying close to the property line again.I had to end my conversation with his son as I was getting sick and putting him at risk by standing there while we both were sucking it in.
My car smelled horrific. My clothes smelled like they had been dragged through a septic tank.
In a house to the east are [Neighbor]’s great grandchildren, a toddler and a kindergartner. I stopped by to assess how they were doing. One has to have breathing treatments and was home Thursday. Every member of the family I spoke to on Thursday was sick from respiratory problems, severe enough to require a doctor’s intervention, in my opinion caused from the heavy manure applications from Hartland Farms. In the rain even.
On my way home from Adrian that night, Thursday night -9pm- I drove by [Neighbor]’s house again. In the car with the fan blowing in air – it was 71 F and humid – I again was unable to breathe, the toxic smelling manure and fumes enveloped the car for a mile and a half on Beecher Rd. but were the worst at [Neighbor]’s home. I turned off the fan and made sure the windows were up. The manure fumes hung in the car. [Neighbor] and his family have been breathing this poison air for about 12 hours at that point.
On my way home from the Farmer’s market today (Sat Oct 5th about 5pm)after a heavy rain, I again went by [Neighbor]’s home and the stench still hangs in the air. That’s 3 days. Hartland farms has 2400 acres to spread “the solids” but chooses to plaster the heaviest, thickest, worst animal sewerage, next to his very sick elderly neighbor.
What if this was your family? Your father. What would you do?”
Oct 2 – Today’s manure emissions – north, south, east, and west – show the environmental justice issue many ag areas face. Manure emissions harm children, the frail elderly, neighbors who can’t afford to move or sell out. Where’s the justice? when CAFOs can pollute the air with impunity, and the poor and weak are the ones who suffer. Emissions are awful along US-127 at Bleich CAFO. From Stewart Rd south past Culbert, fields on both sides of US-127 “stink godawful, it burns your eyes.” Hartland Farms is applying on several fields along Beecher Rd: west of Hughes Hwy, where solids were spread earlier, now black slurry; east of Hughes on the south side; and further to the east around the old Grange hall. It’s a calm, foggy morning, the stench is awful in these locations. Neighbors report “watery itchy eyes, burning sinues.” Rain is forecast for the next 4 days.
Sept 4 – on another beautiful day, neighbors on Beecher got hit with terrible emissions from another angle, another field with Hartland Farms manure, this time at the corner of Beecher and Dowling.
Sept 4 – Hartland Farms black manure field at the corner of Beecher and Dowling Hwy.
Sept 3 – Hartland Farms stench along Beecher Rd between Posey Lake Hwy and Dowling Hwy. Horrible emissions off the field.
Sept 3 – Hartland Farm manure field along Beecher Rd west of Posey Lake Hwy
Aug 29 – “Ick poo gag” is the message – Hartland Farms manure at the corner of Beecher and Dowling.
Aug 19 – intense emissions at Bleich CAFO. A neighbor reports, “When I opened the front door to leave for work this morning I was slapped in the face and nose by a horrible gagging manure stench.”
Aug 9-12 – serious Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S) emissions from Hartland Farms manure application, Beecher Rd & Henning Hwy. The new Drager 2000 H2S meter registered 1.0 ppm (= 1,000 ppb) this afternoon, far above the 1-hour air standard in 13 states. Michigan has no air standard for H2S. New Mexico, New York, and Kentucky have 1-hour air standards of 10 ppb. This is 1,000 ppb! 100 times worse.
Aug 9 – Drager meter near Hartland Farms manure spraying; top number 19.1 is percent Oxygen; second number 1.0 is H2S parts per milliion.
Aug 8 – email to ECCSCM reports Briskey tankers spraying somebody’s liquid manure (New Flevo? Warner?) on wheat stubble along the Halsted Drain, Shepherd Hwy. “It’s gonna be an eye-watering, headache-y night for the neighbors.”
August 8 – Briskey tanker spewing liquid manure near Halsted Drain, Shepherd Hwy
Aug 5 – extreme eye-watering emissions for neighbors downwind from Hartland Farms liquid manure west of Morey Hwy on Cadmus Rd, same site as yeserday, multiple tankers hauling & pumping all day into the dump box and draglinging onto the field.
August 5 – Stench from Hartland Farms draglining manure along Cadmus Rd, about 1/2 mi. west of Morey Hwy.
July 29 – The ECCSCM water monitoring team on Tamarack Rd reports intense emissions from White Farms CAFO – stench coming from 3/4 mi. away, from the pig barns at the corner of Tamarack and Coman. Residents across the road from the barns must suffer this stench constantly; the barn ventilation fans blow their way – gasses, aerosolized particulates, etc.
July 23 – Bleich CAFO is hauling liquid manure and draglining in the rain this morning west from the facility, north side of Stewart Rd. Application in the rain is a violation of the CAFO permit. Also applying NE corner of Culbert and Gardner.
July 16 – 90+ degree heat continues, with “extreme stench” reported at Forrister Rd and Posey Lake Hwy from New Flevo liquid application on cut hay ground. Another email to ECCSCM also reported the emissions: “Quite a bad odor that made me glad I was just driving through. There appeared to be some equipment in the field but it was dark. The odor was bad. I’m not sure how bad because when you drive through like that, your reaction is to just stop breathing until you’ve passed through it.”
July 15 – in 90+ degree heat, this message from a Bleich CAFO neighbor: “Ok, my patience has run out today, 4 hours of putrid stench from Bleich dairy is enough for me. The heat is bad enough and then add stench to it, sickening!”
July 6 – On a holiday weekend, “serious stench” from Terrehaven CAFO manure along Forrister Rd., Adrian, was reported to ECCSCM. “Observed Terrehaven semi dump truck leaving the field after dumping its load onto the manure piles. As this truck was leaving, the Terrehaven poop wagon was arriving to spread manure slurry in another part of the field…Odor is awful, hope the folks across the street don’t have any outdoor plans for this beautiful 4th of July holiday weekend evening because they’re going to be stuck indoors! …Looks like Wolf Creek takes another hit because weather forecasters say rain is on the way.” And in the evening, the resident emailed that as predicted, “thunderstorms came through a few hours later.”
June 28 – powerful rains in Adrian the last two afternoons. ECCSCM received this message about emissions from Terrehaven CAFO, concern for run-off: “Eye-watering, breathtaking stench at Terrehaven on Wolf Creek/Hunt Rds. in Adrian tonight. You can get a whiff of it as far south as Adrian College. A large amount of runoff after all this rain is going from the silage piles and the barns straight across the street, down into the swale and then the drain. I feel so sorry for the neighbors in the subdivision across the street and also in the cul-de-sac just to the east, all people whose homes were there before Terrehaven expanded to a CAFO. It’s horrible there tonight, just like it is so many nights and days.”
June – 7 – Nobody’s outside, that’s for sure. Hartland Farms dragline is undone at far end near Cadmus Rd; liquid manure has pooled in some places along Hughes Hwy, and emissions are fierce in the area.
June 7 – dragline unhooked before the culvert on Cadmus; (right) black manure slope along Hughes, awful stench.
June 6 – several neighbors and passers-by report that Hartland Farms has laid a dragline from the lagoons at the CAFO facility across the field to Beecher Rd east of Hughes Hwy, and then UNDER Beecher for surface application of liquid manure – but then keep going, across fields to Cadmus Rd, UNDER Cadmus Rd for more spray-application. One neighbor says, “not sure how we will be able to go outside tomorrow, or weekend. This is pathetic!”
June 6 – Hartland Farms draglining
May 31 – Rain is on the radar, moving this way in the next half hour, and the chance of significant rainfall is too high for any manure application by CAFOs. CAFO permits specify weather conditions when manure application is prohibited; non-CAFOs are advised to “avoid application” in such conditions. However, Marvin’s Dairy is hauling manure east on M-34 to the golf-driving range location; and Bakerlads Dairy is out there draglining across the South Branch of the River Raisin.
May 30 – Neighbor reports, “Bleich Dairy‘s tractors are working their field on Stewart Road and 127 and kicking up a wind blown stench into our front yard where I was working in the garden. Ihad to go into the house when the odor started to burn my nose and throat.”
May 29 – “Very strong stench tonight” from Bleich CAFO. Neighbors “had to close all the windows on this very hot humid night.”
May 17 – Setting Things Up For a Bad Weekend – Hartland Farms is putting out draglines at two locations along Beecher Rd. The lines, still deflated, go through culverts under Beecher Rd. They’ll pump manure from the lagoon, kinky umbilical cords to distant fields. It’s a beautiful day, good weekend for EVERYONE to work outside, EXCEPT if their CAFO neighbor is pumping and spraying liquid manure.
May 17 – dragline from the lagoon to Beecher Rd (distant green mound is the earthen wall of the manure lagoon), with pumping station set up.
May 17 – dragline coming out from under Beecher Rd, headed away. Several neighbors are in the line of fire.
May 16 – Another report about Bleich: “Noticed a haze across 127. When driving through the haze, its seemed more like a wet mist which had a stench.”
May 15 – Several reports of “putrid stench”from Bleich Dairy in the middle of the night: “Went to bed with the windows open last night only to wake up to a horrible putrid stench that filled the room. I got up and slept with a handkerchief over my mouth and nose for the rest of the night.” And another: “It’s quite common to notice a farm stench from Bleich Dairy, even an odor as bad as this one on occasion. But this came through the window, waking me from a sound sleep. A very putrid, sickening stench.” Later in the evening of May 15, another: “Noticed a haze across 127. When driving through the haze, its seemed more like a wet mist which had a stench.”
May 14 – New Flevo is draglining liquid manure from tankers on Whig Hwy north of M-34.
May 11 – Hoffland Farms is spraying fields adjacent to Lake Hudson on Lake Hudson Recreation Area land. If you go to hike or fish, hold your nose! Who said yes, it makes sense to spray liquid manure across from a public beach? Who said yes, it makes sense to stink out campers from a state campground? One visitor to Lake Hudson said it was hard to believe, “eye-watering air all the way across the lake to the picnic area and the beach area.” 
May 11, 2013 – Lake Hudson State Recreation Area, a dumping ground – the lake lies behind those trees. Hoffland Farms is spraying and stinking the public’s air.
May 11, 2013 – Hoffland Farms liquid manure is ponding in the fields next to Lake Hudson.
April 29 – How many things are wrong with this picture? ECCSCM received this photo of a side-facility of Warner Farms, corner of Pentecost and Reed, with a foul pile of silage/manure/cows. Photographer suggested a “heap” of ideas for captions: 
“Climb every mountain!” “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.” “How to Make a Mountain Out of a Mole—-, no, Manure Heap.” “The Bear, ooops, Cow Went Over the Mountain.” “Poop – It’s What’s for Dinner!”
April 25 – New Flevo draglining in rain today, same location next to Devil’s Lake.
4-25-13 – dump box for New Flevo liquid manure, draglining near Devil’s Lake, in rain.
April 23 – New Flevo STILL draglining at yesterday’s site, with rain moving in from the west, significant rainfall predicted.
April 22 – New Flevo CAFO is draglining near Devil’s Lake on Manitou Rd; semis hauling in liquid to the dumpbox. Report to ECCSCM says, “Emissions are very bad.”
April 15 – Message from near Bleich CAFO: “Nauseating stench lingering in the air tonight, guess I will not sit outside and enjoy the sounds of the peepers and look up at the stars. House bound again.”
March 6 – Ground is still snow-covered, but thaw has begun. And CAFOs are on the move with manure haulers and trucks. These conditions pose extreme risk for runoff and pollution of streams in many locations. These black manure fields are Warner application along Pentecost Hwy.
3-6-13 Warner manure application on slope, Pentecost Hwy, Franklin Twp
3-6-13 More Warner manure on Pentecost
March 5 – Hartland Farms applying manure, Beecher Rd east of Dowling. Ponding of runoff is visible in low area draining toward Beecher.
3-5-13 Hartland Farms manure runoff, field along Beecher Rd east of Dowling.
Jan 2 – Wintry days in the new year, snow on fields, frozen ground. Winter application is not recommended (any sunlight, thaw, can lead to overland runoff or manure draining to tile inlets and flowing to streams). Even so, manure is being applied to frozen fields at several locations: Bakerlads applying strips of manure at Cadmus and Morey, west of the facility as well as a strip east of the facility. Hartland Farms applied manure in strips south of the facility, at Beecher and Hughes.