Number: 2014-08
WHEREAS, large concentrated animal feeding operations (“CAFOs”) confine large numbers of livestock (e.g., 1,000 or more cattle, 2,500 or more hogs weighing over 55 pounds, 55,000 or more turkeys) along with their feed, manure, and urine, on a much smaller land area than traditional pasture operations; and
WHEREAS, manure production from CAFOs can range between 2,800 tons and 1.6 million tons a year and large farms can produce more waste than some U.S. cities—a feeding operation with 800,000 pigs could produce over 1.6 million tons of waste a year. That amount is one and a half times more than the annual sanitary waste produced by the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and
WHEREAS, manure and wastewater from CAFOs can contribute excess nitrogen, phosphorous, sediment, and pathogens to nearby waters, contributing to low dissolved oxygen, fish kills, toxic algal blooms, and contaminated drinking water supplies; and
WHEREAS, the increased clustering and growth of CAFOs has led to the excess production of manure and problems with storage or manure management that can affect ground and surface water quality; and
WHEREAS, nationwide, approximately 17,300 CAFOs operate, with an estimated 6,861 of these located in the Mississippi River Basin states. About 45% of these have been permitted by state water quality agencies or by the Environmental Protection Agency through Clean Water Act “NPDES” permits; and
WHEREAS, an estimated 37% of the phosphorus load delivered to the Gulf of Mexico originates from non-recoverable manure in the Mississippi Basin, including manure lost during the collection, storage, and treatment of wastes from concentrated animal feeding operations; and
WHEREAS, manure is the source of about half of the nutrient loading from agriculture to the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, and agriculture is the single largest contributor of nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment pollution to the watershed; and
WHEREAS, groundwater can be contaminated by CAFOs through runoff from land application of manure, leaching from manure that has been improperly spread on land, or through leaks or breaks in storage or containment units. The EPA’s 2000 National Water Quality Inventory found that 29 states specifically identified animal feeding operations, not just concentrated animal feeding operations, as contributing to water quality impairment; and
WHEREAS, states with high concentrations of CAFOs experience on average 20 to 30 serious water quality problems per year as a result of manure management problems; and
WHEREAS, states are permitting large CAFOs even in high risk and special resource waters, such as: 1) near a major tributary to the Buffalo River in Arkansas, the country’s first national river, a “water-based national park unit” listed on the National Park Service’s Nationwide Rivers Inventory, and a state blue ribbon trout stream located in the Ozarks’ karst terrain that is prone to groundwater contamination; and 2) near trout streams in northeast Iowa’s “driftless area,” with its limestone geology prone to groundwater contamination; and
WHEREAS, states are issuing water quality permits for some CAFOs without careful scrutiny and binding conditions that ensure they will not: 1) harm rivers listed on the National Park Service’s Nationwide Rivers Inventory for their potential as wild, scenic, or recreational river areas; or 2) contribute to the degradation of their highest quality “outstanding national resource waters;” and
WHEREAS, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency and the U.S. Small Business Administration are subsidizing these new and expanding CAFOs with federal taxpayer funds by granting million dollar loan guarantees for their construction and operation without careful scrutiny and binding conditions that ensure these CAFOs will not: 1) harm rivers listed on the National Park Service’s Nationwide Rivers Inventory for their potential as wild, scenic, or recreational river areas; or 2) contribute to the degradation of their highest quality “outstanding national resource waters;”
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation, at its annual meeting convened May 1-3, 2014 in Baltimore, Maryland, declares that it is the policy of the National Wildlife Federation that large CAFOs, as defined by federal regulations, should not be permitted, or subsidized through federal loan guarantee assistance, in the watershed of any river listed in the National Park Service’s Nationwide Rivers Inventory; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that National Wildlife Federation declares that it is the policy of the National Wildlife Federation that large CAFOs, as defined by federal regulations, should not be permitted, or subsidized through federal loan guarantee assistance, in the watershed of any river designated by any state as an outstanding national resource water (or similar exceptional water designation) subject to the state’s anti-degradation policy.