Missouri Legislation Would Enforce Permanent Limits On Lawsuits Against Hog CAFOs

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The state's dominant hog producer, Premium Standard Farms, wants something from Missourians: a stop to the nuisance lawsuits that the company complains are raising the cost of doing business here.

So in this legislative session two northern Missouri legislators, whose districts are home to the bulk of Premium Standard's facilities, responded. Earlier this year, state Rep. Casey Guernsey, R-Bethany, and state Sen. Brad Lager, R-Savannah, introduced bills that would limit Premium Standard's liability in lawsuits stemming from odors and other environmental nuisances that rural residents say have plagued their communities for more than a decade. The bills have passed both chambers, and the Senate will begin hearings next week.

Guernsey and Lager say their measures are intended to save as many as 3,000 jobs, $75 million in payroll and an industry that means millions to the state. But small-scale farmers and rural residents say the bills will limit their right to sue for damages and will take away the only tool they have to make the company, owned by hog giant Smithfield Foods, act as a good neighbor.

"There are no other alternatives. We've tried the process with EPA, even the Department of Justice," said Terry Spence, a cattle farmer from Unionville who has sued Premium Standard. "This isn't about money. This is about getting them to improve these facilities."

The facilities, some with as many as 200,000 hogs, are known as concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, and have come under attack largely because of the way they store and distribute millions of gallons of hog waste. Typically, hog CAFOs have stored waste in large lagoons and then distributed the waste on fields. The stench from the process is overwhelming, residents say.

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http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/article_6dd76501-8fbc-5d6f-9476-a779573c38fb.html

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