Hog Watch Manitoba News September 2002 |
| Index: Environmental
charges land farm heavy fine A variety of Environmental Act charges have resulted in $5,000 fine for a large southeastern Manitoba hog farming operation. Pryme Pork received the fine plus $2,500 court cost penalty from Judge Linda Giesbrecht during a late July session of Steinbach Provincial Court. Sean Breannan, one of Manitoba's Crown Attorneys specializing in environmental/conservation prosecutions told The Carillon although Pryme Pork has many locations, their St Malo site was where the offense occurred. Representing Pryme Pork was Ray Friesen, whom through defense lawyer Don Primeau pleaded guilty to one count of improper/or unsafe storage of manure. All other charges against Friesen were stayed in lieu of the guilty plea, Breannan noted. The charges stemmed from a visit to the St Malo site in spring 2001. When Manitoba Conservation officers came visiting on a completely unrelated matter, one of the officers noticed that an earthen manure storage facility was extremely over-capacity. More officials subsequently came to the farm because they needed to test the manure that was pouring over the side. Breannan pointed out there could have potentially been polluted water in St Malo as a result of the oversight.
"They had a lot of concern about the material running into the ditches, and they especially had concerns that it may ultimately flow into the St Malo reservoir, and the St Malo Park, which could have potentially been disastrous." The Crown explained that Conservation's bacteriological tests where to measure fecal coliform levels; "municipal waste laws state that anything that is to be discharged into the water system cannot exceed 200 fecal coliforms." Pryme Pork's levels were well in excess of this law, with readings of 9,300 and one test was as high as 150,000 fecal coliforms, said Breannan. The Crown emphasized there was a positive ending to the case, however. In Friesen's defense, Primeau told the court that his client had already finished making the suggested repairs to their manure storage facility. Primeau pointed out that as of March, the farm was already finished meeting the requirements. Breannan commended the farm for going the extra mile. "They really went above and beyond Conservation's suggested $15,000 worth of repairs to bring their facilities up to regulation, which was good to see." Instead, the farm spent $50,000 for a newer, safer facility.
Hog
manure spill prompts inspection call Manitoba Conservation blames corrosion for a spill of four million litres of liquid hog manure from a storage tank that collapsed this summer near MacGregor, Man. But a company that makes structures for the storage of livestock manure disagrees, and last week went public with its belief that faulty construction was to blame. The holding tank that failed July 21 was built of steel panels with glass lining. It was installed in 1997 by a private contractor. "The reason for the failure appears to be corrosion, severe corrosion," said Dennis Brown of the government department. That conclusion didn't set will with Engineered Storage Products Co., based in Illinois. The company heard about the mishap and made its own inquiries. At least some of the panels used in the slurry storage were manufactured by Engineered Storage Products, but the company said the collapse was due to faulty construction, not poor materials. Rick Jones, the company's director of agricultural sales, said in an interview that the structure at the MacGregor farm was an example of "how not to build a tank." ESPC has been manufacturing manure storage tanks for 27 years that are made of panels of glass fused to steel. More than 4,000 of those tanks, marketed under the Slurrystore brand name, have been built on North American farms. None of the structures sold and built by the company's authorized dealers has failed, according to Jones. One of those authorized dealers, Managro Ltd. of Winnipeg, inspected the storage tank at the MacGregor hog operation after the tank had been bulldozed into a pile. Managro owner Tom Struthers said there was no evidence to suggest corrosion was the culprit behind the mishap. "I would disagree that it had anything to do with corrosion." Slurrystore tanks should be built beginning with a starter ring and to the diameter that the manufacturer specifies. The steel sheets that get bolted together to form the tank must be installed in proper sequence, so that the heavier gauge ones are at the bottom where the most pressure occurs when the tank is filled. "As we understand it, the tank was constructed of used panels with no regard for ESPC's structure design," said the news release from Engineered Storage Products. "While it is possible to erect pre-owned structures at a new location, it must be done properly and according to our published instructions." Struthers said Managro has installed 75 Slurrystore tanks in Manitoba and Saskatchewan during the past 27 years and none of them has failed. His comments and those of ESPC were meant as a reassurance to past and future owners of Slurrystore tanks. The news release from ESPC was laced with a lengthy list of the stringent measures and standards followed to ensure sound structures. The incident offered further ammunition for critics of Manitoba's expanding hog industry, who charge that existing regulations remain too lax to protect the environment. The storage tank at the MacGregor farm was built in 1997, a year before Manitoba brought in new regulations for the permitting and inspection of such structures. Fred Tait, the president of Hog Watch, an organization critical of intensive hog operations, said all such structures should undergo an annual inspection, regardless of the year they were built. "We've said that from day one." In 1998, new provincial laws required that all new manure storage structures and those undergoing expansion be engineered and granted a permit for construction. Structures covered by the regulations are supposed to undergo annual inspections. Conservation official Brown could not say how many structures similar to the one at MacGregor exist in Manitoba. Those tanks will be located and inspected by Manitoba Conservation as time permits, he said. Brown said the owner of the hog operation acted quickly to alert Manitoba Conservation to the spill and has been co-operative during the cleanup. No manure left the hog farm's property. Elevated nitrate levels were found in two water wells, but the bacteria levels in those wells were fine, Brown said. © The Western Producer.
Study
Show Minimal Impact on Quality of Life from Hog Barns A Manitoba Rural Adaptation Council study indicates the presence of swine barns has little impact on the outdoor activities or the quality of life of neighbors. The study, conducted by DGH Engineering, Laval University and Manitoba Agriculture and Food, involved two surveys. The first questioned 50 hog operators to determine what might influence odor and the second questioned 25 neighbors around each operation. DGH Senior Engineer Doug Small says the researchers reached several conclusions. Clip-Doug Small-DGH Engineering One of them was that we found 77 percent of neighbors surrounding hog operations reported that these operations had not caused them to change their outdoor activities within the 12 previous months. The size and number of hog operations had little impact on the perception of odor by rural residents. The awareness of the existence of at least one hog operation appeared to be the strongest stimulus for rural residents to develop an opinion that hog operations are an important odor source. Another couple of things we found was that the manure storage was identified by producers as the main source of odor. The neighbors were not able to generally distinguish between the source of odors with respect to the barns, the storage and spreading. Most odor was reported to be experienced in summer when little spreading occurs so therefor we concluded that neighbors are generally not sure about some of the specific sources of odor. Small says the study provides valuable insight into the complex issue
of odor and some clues on how where we might make changes to reduce the
perception of odor. *Farmscape is a presentation of Sask Pork and Manitoba Pork Council Editor's Note: This "study" is very unscientific
and totally worthless, except as a political news release, just before
an election.... Municipal
Voters Urged to 'Stand Up for Agriculture' Manitoba Pork Council is encouraging rural residents to 'stand up for
agriculture' when they participate in next month's municipal elections.
Clip-Peter Mah-Manitoba Pork Council Mah says, for some councils, trying to balance a host of issues such
as community growth, survival of the community, job creation, tourism
and maintaining a healthy vibrant agricultural community has presented
a real challenge. *Farmscape is a presentation of Sask Pork and Manitoba Pork Council Solution
to Hog Factory Pollution Why not a corporate death penalty; three criminal convictions and your
corporate charter is history. The town of Wayne is one of several Pennsylvania
towns that prohibit corporations with repeated violations from setting
up shop. So far, the law has been used to keep out hog farms that have
repeatedly broken the law. Hay
Bay Genetics fined $10,000 + On Monday, September 9, 2002, Hay Bay Genetics and the company's Farm
Manager Mark Davis were each fined $5,000 after being convicted of violating
pollution prevention sections of the Fisheries Act last February. Editor's note: In Manitoba there are many unreported
spills and incidents from "natural" rainfall and "natural"
flooding which wash sewer effluent into the streams and groundwater. Manitoba
needs more inspectors. RM
of Daly rejects hog barn RIVERS - The hog barn proposal is dead in Daly, much to the joy of ratepayers. In a 4-3 vote yesterday, councillors from the rural municipality rejected an application by Keystone Pig Advancement to build an 800-sow-farrow-finish operation northwest of Rivers. "I'm relieved," says Ruth Pryzner, a resident who has been fighting the barn proposal for months. "And I appreciate that they thought about it and they got it - that application was not appropriate." "I think we made a good proposal and we agreed to conditions," says Keystone president Pat O'Meara. "We thought we were meeting the main concerns of the community." Councillors Dwight Verboom, Harold Dyck, Evan Smith and Dennis Veitch voted to reject the application after months of passionate debate that pitted neighbour against neighbour in the rural area. Reeve Marlin Beever and Councillors Wes Paddock and Rod Veitch supported the application. "It would be unfair for me to say I'm anything but disappointed with the decision that was taken," Beever says. Any disappointment being expressed was nearly drowned out by the ratepayers' victory cry that filled the room. "I thought we had the opportunity to explore an investment in our community that would meet and exceed the majority of the peoples' expectations," Beever says. Earlier in the debate, Verboom told council: "I would like to think we are one step below the ratepayers. We serve them. They pay us to do the job." "I'm here to make a decision to allow the municipality to move forward in this ever-changing agricultural environment," Beever observed, countering Verboom. "Quite frankly, I view 800 sows as a very, very small barn." Pryzner says she is now optimistic but still feels a need for caution. "I suspect what Mr. O'Meara will do is build a smaller facility É what we intend to do is ensure that Manitoba Conservation does its job," says ratepayer Joe Dolecki. "The fact of the matter is this site is not a good site for anything like that. It's too ecologically sensitive." "We may do that," O'Meara says. "We would like the province to address this process. We will build under 300-animal units and then it would all be up to the province." Dealing with the issue has been tremendously stressful, Verboom says. "Your thoughts are on it day in and day out. We're a grassroots government here and I would like to think we're doing things absolutely proper." It's been a big fight, he adds. "É trying to live up to and get everybody to live up to the requirements of the municipal act." Dolecki says he suspects the decision taken by councillors originally in support of this were done for political reasons. "I do know that we are very pleased with the rejection today and we'll see how that plays out in the election," Dolecki says. Verboom feels there will be pressure on the new government to develop bylaws to protect sites like these. "The issue will still be here, I truly believe it will." Beever
agrees with that. "I would be surprised if it's not. It's certainly
an issue that's on everybody's mind right now. The residents will have
to make a decision on it." However, councils "are about more
than one issue and that is my concern," Beever says. Some
samples of eggs, beef and pork sold in Canada contain dangerously high
levels of chemicals, according to Montreal newspaper La Presse. The paper obtained an unpublished report from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency indicating eight out of 10 samples of pork, beef and cheese contained dioxins. The report says eggs imported from the U.S. showed levels 18 times higher than the internationally accepted limits of chemical by-products, such as PCBs. The law stipulates that no such chemicals should be present in food
sold in the country. The CFIA study is supposed to be released next month.
Long term exposure to dioxins can weaken the immune system and cause cancerous
tumours. According to La Presse, the CFIA study found the dioxin content:
in pork was 53 parts per trillion in beef was 23 parts per trillion in
cheese 12 parts per trillion Results show 'natural levels' of byproducts
Although the dioxin levels may seem tiny, they could accumulate over a
lifetime in your body and cause problems. CFIA officials say the public
should not be worried. "The (test) results only show natural levels
of by-products that exist in the environment," Frederique Moulin
of the CFIA told RDI, Radio-Canada's all-news TV channel. "It's not
dangerous for the Canadian public to consume (these foods)." The
CFIA says samples with high dioxin content were the exception, not the
rule. Armand Tremblay, a professor of veterinary medicine at the University
of Montreal, says any products with more than five parts per trillion
should be pulled from shelves. "I was stunned and concerned at the
test results," said Tremblay. The agency tests chemical contaminants
in the food supply by selecting two Canadian cities twice a year and purchasing
140 food items in those cities. The foods are sent to the University of
Guelph's food lab where they are prepared, cooked and run through a blender.
They are then sent to another lab to be tested. Eli Neider, chief chemical
analyst for the agency, says Canadian standards for zero tolerance are
not realistic. He says it is "unenforceable." The European Union,
along with the World Health Organization, has set a dioxin limit of three
parts pert trillion for each gram of fat in animal products. Health Canada
spokesperson, Ryan Baker, says the ministry is reviewing the Food and
Drugs Act to determine what the dioxin level should be. Kennedy
calls for halt to massive hog Farms `Industry leaders also want strong regulations that are going to
be enforced because their eyes are going to get blackened' - Robert F.
Kennedy Jr. Robert
Kennedy Junior against Factory Farms Liberal Leader Jon Gerrard begs to differ with the famous guest speaker he brought to a Liberal fundraiser in Winnipeg Wednesday night. Environmental lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr., nephew of former American president John F. Kennedy, called for a moratorium on Manitoba's hog industry. Gerrard says the province doesn't need to shut down hog barn development – he says there must be strict regulations that are enforced. "One of the problems right now is that the government has got guidelines instead of regulations," he says. "We saw this problem with the dumping of sewage into the river. The same problem applies in terms of hog barns. There needs to be regulations so that municipal decisions can be done well, so that there can be some trust from people that what is being done in the hog industry is being done in a reasonable fashion." Gerrard says the province should fully implement a report on the hog industry it has had for more than a year. Agriculture Minister Rosann Wowchuk also takes issue with Kennedy's comments. Wowchuk says the criticism is unfounded. "It's a free country. It's a democratic country, if people want to come and express their views," she says. "I also have the right to go to the U.S. to express my views about their U.S. farm bill, to express my views about the level of subsidy that they're providing for their producers and the impact that is having on our producers." Wowchuk says there are already strong environmental controls in place for Manitoba's hog industry. Last updated: September 26, 2002 |