ILLINOIS

• Illegal releases of animal waste into streams are common among factory farms, according to a random state survey of a selected number of manure lagoons.
  
  
• Local governments are barred from establishing siting restrictions on factory farms.
  
  
• Illinois does not regulate construction of any manure storage facilities other than lagoons. Underground concrete tanks, which are exempt from regulation, are becoming the most popular form of manure storage for factory farms.

More than 160 new factory farms have opened in Illinois since May 1997, when the state adopted new rules for livestock operations.¹ Rather than imposing new restrictions to protect the environment, however, the loophole-ridden law has encouraged out-of-state food corporations to open new hog farms under contract in Illinois in an effort to escape stricter regulation in other states, environmentalists charge.

"The weak 1997 law passed by the state was a green light for corporations to establish factory farms in Illinois," said Pam Hansen of the Illinois Stewardship Alliance, a citizens group. "Absentee owners and managers of factory farms are not being held accountable for polluting the air and the water and degrading the quality of life in our rural communities."

Pollution Problems

Factory-sized hog farms have been responsible for several major manure spills into state streams since 1997. In several cases, the farm operators' attempt to get rid of excess manure by diverting it to state streams has been shockingly deliberate. Even more shocking has been the state's lackadaisical response.

The state agency responsible for environmental protection issued no fines for an 800,000-gallon manure spill at a Hancock County hog facility managed by the brother of the State Agriculture Director. The incident occurred in June 1997, after a period of heavy rain. The hog farm operator, faced with a dangerously full manure lagoon, dug a ditch into the earthen berm containing the liquid manure to let the waste flow out, according to a report from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA).² The farm operator's desperate excavation dumped 800,000 gallons of raw pig sewage into Bear Creek, a tributary of the Mississippi River.³ Neither the farm operator nor the IEPA, which was fully aware of the incident, made the public aware of the spill.⁴ (Until June 1998, livestock facilities were under no legal requirement to report a pollution discharge.) Eventually members of the Illinois Stewardship Alliance discovered the incident, and issued a press release notifying the public of the spill. Hancock County health officials warned the public to avoid drinking water from shallow wells near the creek and to avoid contact with the creek itself.⁵

On June 24, 1998, the state experienced another large spill in Greene County. An estimated 250,000 gallons of hog waste from Hanor Farms Inc. spilled into a creek near Eldred, 60 miles southwest of Springfield, the state capital. At the 35,000-piglet nursery, the operator was spraying liquid manure with a "traveling gun," an irrigation sprinkler, over a 250-foot wide path on a farm field. However, the field was already saturated with water from several days of heavy rain and was unable to absorb much more liquid. The liquid manure gushed out over the saturated field, spilling into a nearby stream that flows into the Illinois River. The state has investigated the spill but no citations have been issued.⁶

It took three notices from the state before Hanor Farms corrected manure-handling problems at another hog operation it owns in Greene County, where baby pigs are raised for market. Between March and June 1997, the IEPA found numerous violations of its rules for managing lagoons and livestock waste. For example, Hanor Farms started operating pig production sites near White Hall even though the accompanying waste lagoons had not been completed, forcing the operator to double-load other lagoons with manure, the IEPA inspections found. In July 1997, following numerous complaints from neighbors about the odor emanating from the White Hall facility, IEPA ordered Hanor Farms to correct its waste management practices there.⁷

Factory farms continue to foul Illinois' rivers and stream. In August 1998, a cattle feedlot operator pumped out a manure pit, discharging the contents into a tributary of the Fox River. The flood of animal waste killed every fish for 4.5 miles, according to the state investigation.⁸

Outlaw releases of animal waste from factory farms are common, according to a report recently issued by IEPA. The report shows 15 out of 22 randomly inspected manure lagoons in western Illinois were illegally discharging wastewater into streams in the first quarter of 1998.⁹ Illinois prohibits any discharge of livestock waste except during heavy rainfalls occurring once every 25 years (known as a 25-year, 24-hour storm event).¹⁰ This type of extraordinary precipitation was not a factor in these lagoon discharges, according to the IEPA.¹¹

Regulatory Climate

Illinois does not require livestock facilities of any size to obtain Clean Water Act permits on a routine basis.

IEPA's interpretation of the Clean Water Act has been that a Clean Water Act permit is only needed for a CAFO when it discharges pollution.¹² Consequently, the few permits issued by the state have been triggered by massive manure spills, according to Pam Hansen of the Illinois Stewardship Alliance. In practice very few Clean Water Act permits are issued in Illinois: by 1997 only 40 facilities had active NPDES permits.¹³

The chief regulatory mechanism in the state is the 1997 Livestock Management Facilities Act, which established regulations for factory farms and smaller facilities with lagoons. The new rules mandate basic construction standards for manure lagoons, a prohibition on construction in flood plains, a waste management plan at livestock operations and a requirement that a certified livestock manager be on site.¹⁴

However, the law includes several major loopholes, effectively exempting broad categories of factory farms from the new rules. A glaring loophole is a provision allowing existing livestock facilities to expand to 50 percent of the value of the total facility every two years without having to subscribe to any of the toughened requirements in the law.¹⁵

Another loophole allows a single large operation to escape regulation entirely by establishing several adjacent facilities, each holding slightly fewer animals than would trigger the new regulatory requirements. The provision making this possible states that a factory farm's multiple sites can be regulated separately as long as they are one-quarter mile apart or use separate waste storage facilities at each site.¹⁶ According to Pam Hansen, that loophole has allowed Hanor Farms' 35,000 piglet nursery at Eldred, for example, to escape regulation because the operation is composed of four barns, each with its own separate waste lagoon and each with slightly fewer sows and piglets than would trigger the requirements. As a result, the nursery is not required to comply with requirements such as having a waste management plan.

The biggest loophole in the regulatory system is the provision limiting animal waste regulation to lagoons. Underground concrete tanks for storing waste are not subject to construction requirements.¹⁷ Consequently, such tanks are becoming the most popular technology in Illinois for manure storage on a large scale. Though water quality monitoring of these underground tanks is not required, in 1997 IEPA documented at least 12 pollution discharges from concrete pits attributed to mechanical failures. A number of these discharges resulted in water quality degradation.¹⁸

Although the state of Illinois has established restrictions on the land application of manure based on its nitrogen content, records are kept on site and most factory farms are not required to submit waste management plans to the state for approval. Facilities with more than 7,000 animal units are required to file manure management plans with the state.¹⁹ The state allows unlimited land application of phosphorus,²⁰ another nutrient in manure that tends to build up in the soil, and can contribute to pollution of rivers and streams when excess quantities of the nutrient are washed into bodies of water.

Illinois requires buffer zones between livestock farms and other properties, even for those operations with only 50 animal units. Livestock facilities of more than 1,000 animal units must be set back from residences.²¹ But the required buffer strip of one-fourth to one-half a mile is inadequate, especially given that the distance is measured between the home itself and the feedlot facility.

Moreover, the setbacks do not take into consideration all the factors needed to protect water quality, such as the soil type and location of an individual factory farm. For example, Little Timber Ltd. Liability Corp. was allowed to build its 2,400-sow operation on sandy soils and a shallow water table. When the construction crews started digging one of the lagoons, groundwater began percolating up into the bottom.²² Neighboring citizens get their drinking water from the shallow aquifer immediately underneath the lagoon.²³ In an effort to protect their drinking water, Hancock County residents filed for an injunction to stop further construction of the facility on March 11, 1997, but were unsuccessful.²⁴

At least on paper, air quality is regulated under the Illinois Environmental Protection Act. According to this law, if air contamination impedes neighbors' quality of life, citizens can file complaints and IEPA can pursue enforcement actions.²⁵ In an ongoing case, the Illinois attorney general is suing a Henderson County hog producer under contract to an Iowa-based corporation for multiple violations of air contamination rules. The hog producer could be fined $50,000 per violation.²⁶ However, citizens find they must prod IEPA to exercise its clean air authority when it comes to farm factories.

Citizen Involvement

Public hearings are only required when a county board requests one for a facility that will be using a lagoon. Public hearings are informational only. No permits are restricted or denied with this process. County boards and citizens cannot request hearings for new facilities that will not be using a lagoon.²⁷

Prior to construction, facilities must notify property owners and the Illinois Department of Agriculture. This is the only type of notice required.²⁸

Local Control

Local governments have no control over factory farms despite their impact on communities. Under Illinois state law, agriculture is exempt from counties' authority to regulate the siting of new buildings.²⁹ The only measure of control that residents have over factory farms is to protest tax assessments on their property, since noxious odors and other nuisances from nearby livestock facilities may diminish the value of residential property. Recently, 23 residents living within two miles of a 7,200-sow factory in DeWitt County appealed their property assessments to their local government. The county ruled that the hog facilities lowered the residential property values and the residents were granted reductions of between 10 and 30 percent on their property assessments because of the air contamination caused by feedlots.³⁰

Primary interviewee for this chapter:

Pam Hansen
Illinois Stewardship Alliance
P.O. Box 648
Rochester, IL 62563
Phone: 217-498-9707
Fax: 217-498-9235
e-mail: ilstew@mpmis.com

Notes

1. Data gathered by the Illinois Stewardship Alliance (ISA) from the Department of Agriculture. ISA counted Intents to Construct which they obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.

2. John Husar, "Manure Spill Claims 100,000 Fish," Chicago Tribune, Outdoors Op-Ed (August 24, 1998); Hancock County Circuit Court Case #97 Ch. 9, People vs. Jerry Grauf and Dan Carlisle, filed August 6, 1997.

3. Deborah Gertz, "Hog Waste Spurs Inquiry," Herald-Whig (July 11, 1997); "Health Officials: Avoid Bear Creek Water," Herald-Whig (July 11, 1997); Hancock County Circuit Court Case #97, Ch. 9, People vs. Jerry Grauf and Dan Carlisle, filed August 6, 1997.

4. Deborah Gertz, "Hog Waste Spurs Inquiry," Herald-Whig (July 11, 1997); "Health Officials: Avoid Bear Creek Water," Herald-Whig (July 11, 1997); Hancock County Circuit Court Case #97, Ch. 9, People vs. Jerry Grauf and Dan Carlisle, filed August 6, 1997.

5. "Health Officials: Avoid Bear Creek Water," Herald-Whig (July 11, 1997).

6. Adriana Colinders, "Hog Waste Fouls Greene County Stream," The State Journal Register (June 27, 1998).

7. Adriana Colindres, "Hog Waste Fouls Greene County Stream," The State Journal Register (June 27, 1998).

8. Illinois Department of Natural Resources, "Site Investigation Report" (August 21,1998) (obtained under Freedom of Information Act).

9. Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, "Livestock Waste Lagoons" (1998).

10. Title 35, Environmental Protection Subtitle E, "Agriculture Related Pollution," Section 502.102, "Twenty Five Year Storm Event."

11. Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, "Livestock Waste Lagoons" (1998).

12. Title 35, Environmental Protection Subtitle E, "Agriculture Related Pollution," Section 502.102, "Twenty Five Year Storm Event."

13. Personal communication between Rebecca Knuffke and Bruce Yurdin, Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, Permits Division (November 5, 1998).

14. Ill. Compiled Stat. ch. 510, para. 77/1, et seq.

15. Ill. Compiled Stat. ch. 510, para. 77/1, sec.10.45, "New Facility;" sec. 10.30, "Livestock Management Facility."

16. Ill. Compiled Stat. ch. 510, para. 77/1, sec. 10.45, "New Facility;" sec. 10.30, "Livestock Management Facility."

17. Ill. Completed Stat. ch. 510; para. 77/1, et seq., "Animals," Livestock Management.

18. Illinois Environmental Protection Agency's 1997 documented discharges from concrete waste handling facilities in Illinois, information obtained from the IEPA through the Freedom of Information Act requests.

19. Ill. Compiled Stat. ch. 510, para. 77/1 et seq., sec. 20 (f).

20. Ill. Compiled Stat. ch. 510, para. 77/1 et seq., sec. 20 (f).

21. Ill. Compiled Stat. ch. 510, para. 77/1 et seq., sec. 35.

22. Illinois Environmental Protection Agency Inspection Report from Freedom of Information Act requests (April 12, 1998 and October 29, 1997).

23. Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, Bureau of Water, Groundwater Map.

24. Bill and Phyllis Whitaker, Valley Dale Alliance, Press Release, "Hancock County Residents Filed for an Injunction Against Large-Scale Hog Factory," Carthage, Illinois (March 11, 1997).

25. Ill. Compiled Stat. ch., Air Quality_415 ILCS 5/9(a), 1996 Illinois Environmental Protection Act Section 210.144; Pollution Control Board Regulation 35IL, Admin. Code Section 501.102(c)(3) of Pollution Control Board, "Agriculture Related Pollution Regulations."

26. Henderson County, Illinois, 9th Judicial District, The People of the State of Illinois v. Alan Durkee and Eastern Iowa Pumping, Inc., filed March 11, 1998.

27. Ill. Compiled Stat. ch. 510, para. 77/1 et seq. was amended January 2, 1998 to become effective June 1, 1998, section 15, Livestock Waste Lagoon (B) and (B-5).

28. 35 Ill. Admin. Code 506.703, initial determination of setbacks.

29. County ordinances, 55 Ill. Completed Stat. 5/5-12001, ch. 34, para. 5-12001.

30. "Stench Spreads Property-Value Debate," Tara Burghart, Journal Star, Peoria, Illinois, May 26, 1998.