Bill exempts feeding operations

To the editor:

Residents of rural Missouri may want to look into a bill that would allow corporate animal-feeding operations to pollute land and water supplies without the permission of local authorities. Senate Bill 187 changes the law relating to concentrated animal-feeding operations by exempting most of them from strict state supervision or local control.

The wording of the bill is deceptive, because it sounds like the legislature is trying to protect the environment. But the rules apply only to the largest animal facilities (over 7,000 cows, 17,500 hogs, 700,000 broiler chicks). To avoid state regulation and local ordinances, a company would simply have to stay slightly under those limits.

The bill specifically states that local governmental units may not apply regulations any stricter than the state does. This means a rollback in protection to Missouri families. People living near these inhumane, polluting facilities would just have to live with whatever health and environmental damage they cause.

Small family farms are disappearing in Missouri, and laws like this will rob even more of them of the opportunity to compete economically. That's why SB 187 is opposed by the Missouri Farmers Union, the Missouri Rural Crisis Center representing 5,500 family farmers and the Sierra Club.

I urge anyone who cares about the environment, traditional rural values or protection of family farms to contact his state senator and urge him or her to vote against this bill.

SUSAN CUNNINGHAM, Pacific, Mo.