EGLE Archives

August 12, 2024

Movement to limit CAFO pollution seen strengthened by Michigan court ruling

By Keith Schneider

A recent state court decision could transform how animal agriculture is regulated in Michigan, and potentially influence how other state and federal regulators oversee the industry’s mammoth waste stream, according to environmental lawyers and activists.

The optimism from environmental advocates comes after the Michigan Supreme Court ruled on July 31 that the state’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) has full authority to require industrial animal agriculture to take much stronger actions to manage the torrent of manure waste polluting waterways. The closely watched case pit the administration of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer against the powerful agricultural industry, led by the Michigan Farm Bureau.

“The decision is extremely powerful language for EGLE to act,” said Carrie La Seur, the legal director of For Love of Water, an environmental law and policy group that intervened on behalf of the state. “It’s clear that EGLE gained a lot of authority through this ruling.”

Michigan is one of many US states contending with rampant ground and surface water pollution caused by agricultural production. A key source of the pollution are the nation’s more than 21,000 large dairy, cattle, hog, and poultry operations, known as Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations or CAFOs.

The nationwide problem extends across the ocean. On Aug 9, the Center for Food Safety environmental group gave legal notification to a Hawaii “megadairy” of their intention to file a lawsuit in federal court. The allege the dairy has been illegally “discharging animal waste, solid manure, liquid manure, milk waste, and chemical pollutants” into the state’s waterways and into the Pacific Ocean.

August 1, 2024

Michigan notches a victory in effort to rein in polluting farm waste

By Keith Schneider

In a rare rebuke to the industrial farm sector, the Michigan Supreme Court this week ruled that state environmental regulators have full authority to require livestock and poultry operations to improve their handling of billions of pounds of manure that contributes to contamination of waterways.

The 5-2 decision issued Wednesday is one of the most significant environmental protection measures in Michigan in years. It comes after four years of battles between state officials and operators of poultry and hog feeding operations and large dairies over regulatory efforts to reduce agriculture-related water pollution. Farm-related nitrates and phosphorus have fouled Lake Erie and other state waters for decades.

The court’s decision recognizes that the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) not only has the power but also has the obligation under state and federal law to issue permits aimed at cleaning up Michigan’s water keeping it free of dangerous pollutants, said Rob Michaels, managing attorney of the Chicago-based Environmental Law & Policy Center, one of eight environmental organizations that filed a brief in support of the state.

The ruling is a rare defeat for industrial agriculture interests, particularly the Michigan Farm Bureau, which is supported by the major state associations for milk, pork, and poultry producers. The bureau did not respond to requests for comment.

“In the context of factory farms taking over rural areas there is, finally, recognition that regulatory bodies have authority for managing nutrient and animal waste pollution,” said Liz Kirkwood, executive director of For Love of Water, a water law and policy center that intervened in support of the state. “It’s huge.”

The Supreme Court ruling stems from a permit issued by EGLE in March 2020 directing the state’s largest meat, milk and egg producers to improve practices for managing manure and other wastes produced by 291concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs. Twenty years, ago, fewer than 50 operated in the state.

Michigan ranks sixth nationally in dairy production with 440,000 cows on 900 farms. Michigan also has 1.2 million hogs, 62 million broiler chickens, 53 million turkeys, and 65 million chickens laying eggs. The animals generate an estimated 4 billion gallons of liquid manure and 60 million tons of solid manure on fields annually, according to EGLE. Operators are not required to treat their livestock waste before they spread the tide of liquid feces and urine on fields.