WYOMING

• Swine factory farms, which are making a new incursion in Wyoming, have come under toughened pollution regulation as a result of a 1997 state law. But the law left cattle feedlots, a long-standing pollution concern, untouched.
  
  
• Citizen groups see the many cattle feedlots clustered along the North Platte River as a threat to the water quality of the river, which is used for drinking water, fishing and boating.
  
  
• In 1997, Wyoming passed a law requiring swine factory farms to locate at least one mile away from residences, schools or towns. Since the law's passage, several Wyoming counties have passed even stricter rules, mandating buffer zones of up to five miles from town limits.

Swine factory farms started arriving in Wyoming on a serious scale in the early to mid-1990s and immediately sparked citizen complaints over odors, flies and water pollution. Under pressure from the Powder River Basin Resource Council, a group of farmers, ranchers and environmentalists originally formed to fight strip-mining devastation, the state legislature passed a law in 1997 aimed specifically at regulating swine factory farms.¹

Currently, Wyoming's Department of Agriculture has a long-range plan to bring large confined swine feeding operations into southeast Wyoming and has invited several companies to consider Wyoming's wide open spaces and small population as an asset to this type of operation.²

Unlike the newer pig factories, cattle feedlots are a deeply entrenched part of Wyoming's history, politics and economy. Although citizens' groups have long-standing concerns about pollution threats from cattle feedlots, Wyoming's 1997 law to curb pollution from factory farms left cattle feedlots untouched.³

Most of Wyoming's cattle feedlots are concentrated in the southeastern corner of the state because of its proximity to grain supplies in neighboring Nebraska and a favorable climate.

Taxes in Wyoming are also very favorable to industry. The state has no corporate (or personal) income tax, and agricultural land is taxed at a lower level than industrial properties.⁴ Factory farms can claim both the advantages that the state gives to industry and the lower taxes afforded to agriculture.

Pollution Problems

Feedlots and feedlot-related pollution problems are concentrated in the southeastern corner of Wyoming -- primarily in Goshen, Laramie and Platte counties.⁵ The majority of feedlot operations in Wyoming raise cattle. Many cattle feedlots are clustered along the North Platte River, a historic river followed by pioneers traveling westward out of Nebraska.⁶ The river supplies drinking water to several communities in southeastern Wyoming. Reservoirs created by damming up the river are also popular for fishing and boating. Citizens represented by the Powder River Basin Resource Council have long been concerned that feedlots in this area might be polluting the river. Major pollution threats, in the Council's view, include polluted runoff from the hard-packed manure upon which that cattle stand, erosion of riverbanks trampled by cattle and cattle droppings stockpiled or spread on nearby fields. Officials at the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality say they have found nitrates in the North Platte River above natural background levels, but not in sufficient quantities to pose a health or environmental threat.⁷

However, unsafe levels of nitrate pollution have been found in underground aquifers close to the Platte River, which supply drinking water for several towns.⁸ At high levels, nitrates can cause "blue baby syndrome," which impairs infants' ability to carry oxygen in their bloodstream. High nitrate levels in drinking water have also been linked to miscarriages in women.

In Goshen County's Torrington, a town of some 5,000 people, nitrate levels in the groundwater have been measured well above safe drinking levels. In some areas, groundwater is so contaminated that residents cannot use their wells. The U. S. Department of Agriculture is providing millions of dollars in grants to build new wells for communities like Torrington.⁹ Citizens in Torrington have also complained of cattle feedlot odors so bad they cannot leave windows open in the summer. Air pollution from factory cattle farms have been blamed for some residents' health problems.¹⁰ One Torrington couple was forced to move from their house near a cattle feedlot after the wife suffered asthma complications.¹¹

Fear of contaminated drinking water spurred controversy for several years over a 2,500_head cattle feedlot built by Maxfield Farms along the North Platte River near the Goshen County town of Lingle. By November 1992, the feedlot was substantially built without the owner ever having applied to the state for water pollution control permits.¹² In addition, one of Maxfield Farm's neighbors complained that he had never been notified of the plans to build the feedlot. At the time, Lingle resident Marv Billings noted that the water table in the area was only about 10 or 12 feet and "when the water table drops, the drainage [from the feedlot] will go right into the aquifer that people drink out of."¹³

Under pressure from local residents, Maxfield Farms finally applied for water quality permits from the state. Engineers from the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) twice rejected the owner's plans for wastewater treatment facilities because they did not adequately protect groundwater. In public hearings, lawyers for Lingle-area residents and the Powder River Basin Resource Council presented evidence of high nitrate levels found in water samples taken at the feedlot in March 1993.¹⁴ It was too late for citizens to block the cattle feedlot from operating. But when the agency finally granted Maxfield Farms a permit in 1994, one condition imposed at the demand of local citizens was a requirement that Maxfield Farms install groundwater-monitoring wells.¹⁵

In neighboring Platte County, a massive complex of swine feedlots has been producing such a stink that residents say they are regularly wakened by the smell in the middle of the night. The town of Wheatland is surrounded by four hog factory farms within a 10-mile radius. Together they produce about 100,000 pigs a year. Wheatland residents complain of flies plastered so thick to the exterior of their homes that they can no longer hold picnics outdoors on the Fourth of July. When Wyoming Premium Farms started to build the four hog feedlots in 1995, it assured citizens that it would store the hog manure in state-of-the-art lagoons and line the lagoons with protective liners. Less than a month after the first of Wyoming Premium's hog facilities began operating, its manure lagoon sprang a 750-gallon-a-day leak. The company had to drain the facility and reseal the seams of the lagoon liner.¹⁶ The manure produced by the four facilities is the equivalent of the waste produced by a town of 200,000, the Powder River Basin Resource Council estimates. That dwarfs the human waste of Platte County, which has a population of only 12,000.

Regulatory Climate

In 1997, under pressure from citizens fed up with smelly, polluting factory hog farms, Wyoming passed a new law governing confined swine feeding operations. The state is currently writing regulations to implement the law. Under the law, swine operations with at least 1,000 animal units -- the equivalent of about 2,500 pigs -- must get a confined swine feeding permit from the Wyoming DEQ.¹⁷ Wyoming's swine permits are more stringent than federal Clean Water Act permits -- known as National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits -- because the state allows no pollution to state waters -- a prohibition that applies not only to rivers and streams but also to groundwater. By contrast, a NPDES permit, which the state usually applies to cattle and other animal types, does not bar pollution to groundwater that is not hydrologically connected to surface water.¹⁸ Under the new law, the operator of a swine factory farm must develop a groundwater protection plan and a plan for applying manure to land safely. The new law will require waste management, bonding and a reclamation plan.¹⁹

When the new swine law was passed, it required buffer zones between factory hog farms and residences that were considered quite strict compared to other states. Factory farm buildings and waste lagoons must be located one mile from dwellings, schools and towns. The one-mile setback can be waived with written permission from a town council, a neighbor or school board.²⁰

However, the new law's setbacks are inadequate to protect the environment in several respects. The mandated buffer zones do not include fields applied with hog manure, frequently a major source of pollution. In addition, hog factories can be located as close as one-quarter mile from wells and streams. Existing operations do not need to meet these siting requirements. They are grandfathered under the law. However, if existing facilities significantly expand, they will have to meet the new requirements.²¹

Swine permit requirements, as modified by the new law, are more stringent than permits required for other animal types.²² For example, cattle feedlots are covered under Wyoming's Environmental Quality Act, which imposes essentially no siting requirements -- in contrast to the setback requirements for swine factories. For animals other than swine, such as cattle and sheep, concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) with more than 1,000 animal units must get a Clean Water Act NPDES permit from Wyoming's Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).²³ The DEQ may require smaller facilities to obtain a permit if the state determines that they pose a threat of polluting the waters of the state.²⁴ The state requires that both cattle and swine CAFOs spread manure at agronomic rates.²⁵

Currently, there are 11 permitted swine CAFOs and 11 permitted non-swine CAFOs in Wyoming.²⁶

State employees inspect permitted livestock CAFOs at least once every five years, with many inspected annually. Hog operations are inspected quarterly during construction and start-up.²⁷ However, citizens active in passage of the new swine law note that pollution problems are more likely to occur after the start-up stage, when equipment has had time to wear out.

Under the state regulatory program, factory farms monitor their own operations and are supposed to test both their water quality and soil quality.²⁸ The test results are sent to DEQ. But the agency does not necessarily act on a violation unless citizens have identified a violation, according to members of the Powder River Basin Resource Council. Bringing infractions to the attention of the DEQ is often a laborious process, requiring citizens to travel to the state capital to pore through reports and files.

"DEQ is overworked, underpaid and takes the feedlot operator's word for a lot of things," said Vickie Goodwin of the Powder River Basin Resource Council.

Citizen Involvement

The public comment period prior to permit issuance depends on the type of operation. Swine operations must give public notice of intent to file an application for a permit. Once the application meets DEQ's requirements, a public hearing is held. For livestock operations other than swine and greater than 1,000 animal units, a public hearing is held if there is "sufficient public interest," according to state regulations, in which case public notice of the hearing is provided.²⁹

Local Control

The new state swine law authorizes counties to establish stricter zoning for hog factory farms than the siting restrictions in the new state statute. Three counties -- Laramie, Goshen and Platte -- have taken advantage of the authority to pass stricter ordinances.³⁰ All three counties are located in the southeastern corner of the state, where most of Wyoming's cattle feedlots are concentrated and where swine factories are starting to make inroads.

Laramie County recently passed new rules in response to a plan by Hastings Pork to build a swine facility in the county a mere 28 feet above groundwater. Laramie's new zoning rules require swine feeding operations to be sited at least 150 feet above groundwater. In addition, the manure lagoons and buildings of swine factory farms must be situated at least three miles from homes, schools and municipalities.³¹ Laramie County's new zoning rules effectively prevented Hastings from building its swine factory farm on its original site.

Goshen County has mandated a buffer zone of five miles between towns and factory farms that raise either swine or cattle.³² Because Goshen's towns are concentrated along the North Platte River, Goshen's buffer zone provision will force any new factory farm to locate at least five miles from the river, a major step toward preventing pollution of this waterway. Platte County passed rules in August 1998 requiring both cattle and swine feedlots to be situated no closer than two miles from homes, schools and towns.³³

Primary interviewee for this chapter:

Vickie Goodwin
Powder River Basin Resource Council
Box 1178
Douglas, WY 82633
Phone: 307-358-5002
Fax: 307-358-6771
e-mail: doprbvg@coffey.com

Notes

1. Wyoming Law, Enrolled Act 49, 1997 Wyoming Legislature, also WS 35-11-302.

2. Wyoming Department of Agriculture, Strategic Plan, Wyoming's Agriculture Industry 1990-2000 (July 8, 1990), p. 39.

3. Wyoming Law, Enrolled Act 49, 1997 Wyoming Legislature, also WS 35-11-302.

4. Wyoming Taxpayers Association, "Wyoming Tax Summary 1997,"

5. Personal communication between Rebecca Knuffke and Lou Harmen, Water Quality Division, Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality.

6. Personal communication between Bianca DeLille, Clean Water Network and Ron Ewald, Water Quality Office, Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (November 19, 1998).

7. Personal communication between Sarah Glazer and Lou Harmen, Water Quality Division, Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (October 28, 1998).

8. Personal communication between Bianca DeLille, Clean Water Network and Ron Ewald, Water Quality Office, Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (November 19, 1998).

9. Associated Press, "USDA Grant to Improve Torrington Water Supply," Casper Star-Tribune (July 19, 1998).

10. Associated Press, "USDA Grant to Improve Torrington Water Supply," Casper Star-Tribune (July 19, 1998).

11. Personal communication between Sarah Glazer and Vickie Goodwin, Powder River Basin Resource Council (October 28, 1998).

12. Michael Bloom, "DEQ Officials Looking into Health Concerns at Feedlot in Lingle," Torrington Telegram (November 13, 1992).

13. Michael Bloom, "DEQ Officials Looking into Health Concerns at Feedlot in Lingle," Torrington Telegram (November 13, 1992).

14. Kerry Drake, "EQC Hears Lingle Feedlot Protests," Caspar Star Tribune (March 27, 1994).

15. Personal communication between Sarah Glazer and Vickie Goodwin, Powder River Basin Resource Council (October 28, 1998).

16. Kerry Drake, "Wheatland Hog Lagoon Has Had Two Leaks, DEQ Says Farm Complies with State Permit," Casper Star-Tribune (July 19, 1997); Kerry Drake, "Leaks Appear at Wheatland Hog Farm Lagoon" Casper Star-Tribune (July 20, 1997).

17. Wyoming Law, Enrolled Act 49, 1997 Wyoming Legislature, also WS 35-11-302.

18. Personal communication between Rebecca Knuffke and Lou Harmen, Water Quality Division, Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (October 5, 1998).

19. Wyoming Law, Enrolled Act 49, 1997 Wyoming Legislature, also WS 35-11-302.

20. Wyoming Law, Enrolled Act 49, 1997 Wyoming Legislature, also WS 35-11-302.

21. Wyoming Law, Enrolled Act 49, 1997 Wyoming Legislature, also WS 35-11-302.

22. Personal communication between Rebecca Knuffke and Lou Harmen, Water Quality Division, Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (October 5, 1998).

23. Personal communication between Rebecca Knuffke and Lou Harmen, Water Quality Division, Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (October 5, 1998).

24. Personal communication between Rebecca Knuffke and Lou Harmen, Water Quality Division, Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (October 5, 1998).

25. For non-swine CAFOs getting permits, this is state policy, but there is no requirement in state regulations. Personal communication between Sarah Glazer and Lou Harmen, Water Quality Division, Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (October 28, 1998).

26. Personal communication between Sarah Glazer and Lou Harmen, Water Quality Division, Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (October 28, 1998).

27. Personal communication between Sarah Glazer and Lou Harmen, Water Quality Division, Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (October 28, 1998).

28. Personal communication between Rebecca Knuffke and Lou Harmen, Water Quality Division, Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (October 5, 1998).

29. Personal communication between Rebecca Knuffke and Lou Harmen, Water Quality Division, Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (October 5, 1998).

30. Jessica Lowell, "Tough Rules OK'd for Swine Sites," Wyoming Tribune-Eagle (August, 20, 1997).

31. Kerry Drake, "Stiffer swine setbacks approved," Casper Star-Tribune (August, 20, 1998).

32. Personal communication between Rebecca Knuffke and Lou Harmen, Water Quality Division, Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (October 5, 1998).

33. Personal communication between Rebecca Knuffke and Lou Harmen, Water Quality Division, Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (October 5, 1998).