CAFOs are notably under-regulated when compared to other industries. For example, large municipalities in Wisconsin are required to treat their waste with expensive technology before disposal, and are charged tens of thousands of dollars annually to discharge their waste into surface waters. CAFOs, by contrast, produce as much liquid waste as many cities (nearly 100 million gallons annually, in the case of Rosendale Dairy in Fond du Lac County) and spread it untreated on nearby cropland. While the nutrients in the manure can be beneficial to crops, excessive nutrient runoff, not to mention the bacteria, pharmaceuticals and other industrial wastes often discarded simultaneously, are harmful to surface and groundwater.
Table 1: Life is Easy for a Wisconsin CAFO
Differences between CAFOs and other regulated industries are notable:
Regulatory or Legal Program |
CAFOs |
Other Regulated Industries |
Wastewater
(WPDES Permits) |
- Insufficient $345 annual fee for WPDES permits
- Land apply waste without treatment
- Local water quality commonly ignored in the permitting process
- Limited groundwater and surface water monitoring
- Inspected once every 10 years at current DNR inspection rates
- Land-spreading requirements designed to maximize crop growth, not protect water quality
|
- Annual wastewater fees totaling tens of thousands of dollars
- Must treat most wastes before disposing on land
- Permits include site-specific “effluent limitations” based on local water quality
- Extensive monitoring and reporting requirements
- Typically inspected one or more times each 5-year permit cycle
- Land-spreading restrictions based on protection of water quality
|
Air Pollution |
- Exempted until July 2011 from state hazardous air pollution requirements
- Have never been required to obtain an air permit
|
- Must meet ambient air requirements and emissions limits for hazardous air pollutants
- Must obtain permits for the construction and the operation of stationary sources of air pollution
|
Facility Siting and Expansion |
- Local zoning authority significantly curtailed by the Livestock Facilities Siting Law
|
- Commonly subjected to local zoning requirements and siting conditions
|
Common-law nuisance claims |
- Generally protected by the Right to Farm Law, even where a 20-head dairy grows into a 10,000-head factory farm
|
- Subject to common-law restrictions on the interference with another’s use and enjoyment of their own property
|
|
|
