Edwards: Halt new hog lots
By Tony Leys--Des Moines Register
Friday, October 19, 2007----
Presidential candidate John Edwards stepped into a raging rural controversy this week as he toured the western Iowa countryside.
The former North Carolina senator told audiences that he would push for a national moratorium on building or expanding livestock confinement facilities. He also said he would push for tougher federal environmental regulations and for rigorous enforcement of current manure disposal laws.
He mostly was talking about hog confinement operations, which have pitted neighbors against each other in many rural Iowa areas. Operators say well-run facilities are a safe, efficient way to raise hogs and compete on the world market. But many neighbors say the facilities stink up the air and foul the water, devastate their property values, and drive small farmers out of business.
Some other presidential candidates have talked about the controversy, but a leading hog confinement critic said Edwards is the only one she's heard propose a national moratorium.
In an interview, Edwards said his interest in the issue stems from experiences in his home state, where hog confinements first proliferated.
"There are parts of North Carolina where if you drove through them, the smell was overwhelming," he said. "And we've had huge problems with the water and water supply because of it."
North Carolina passed a moratorium on confinement construction about 10 years ago, and its main rules remain in effect. The nation should do the same, Edwards said.
His proposal would affect confinement operations with more than about 2,500 hogs. Officials said Iowa has more than 1,000 such facilities.
Edwards said he first talked about a moratorium when he ran successfully for the U.S. Senate against a hog confinement owner in 1998. He regularly mentions the idea during small-town campaign stops, but rarely goes into detail. "My gut says the people who care about it already understand it," he said.
Edwards laid out his plans in a kitchen-table interview at the Harlan farm of Maria and Ron Rosmann, which has been in their family 125 years. The confinement moratorium is part of a package of ideas the candidate said would help such farms survive against corporate operations. His plans include a $250,000 cap on federal farm subsidies.
(...)
An anti-confinement activist said she was pleased to hear Edwards propose a moratorium. "This issue is huge in rural Iowa," said Barbara Kalbach, president of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement.
(...)
Dave Warner, a spokesman for the National Pork Producers Council, declined to respond to Edwards' stance. The Farm Bureau did not respond to a request for comment.
http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071019/NEWS09/710190372/1056/NEWS09
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