The Callaway County Comission may have little power over a potential 10,000-hog farm coming to the county, Presiding Commissioner Gary Jungermann said.
After looking into potential ordinances that would have oversight over the operation, Jungermann said many of the possibilities have agricultural exemptions. The commission requested Callaway County Prosecuting Attorney Chris Wilson to research ordinances it might be able to draft after Friends of Responsible Agriculture (FORAG) - a hog farm opposition group - turned in a petition with more than 1,400 signatures in August. Wilson met with the commissioners on Friday.
Callaway Farrowing LLC, a spinoff company of Iowa-based Eichelberger Farms, Inc., submitted an operating permit to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources in August to run a 10,000 hog confinement in Kingdom City on Horstmeier Farms.
Jungermann said the commission's options included ordinances regarding nuisances and storm water, but those options excluded agriculture and horticulture purposes.
A possible health ordinance may need to be one based on infectious diseases, and Jungermann said this is an area the commission is still investigating. Experts like doctors and infectious disease nurses, for example, would need to sit on a possible committee to draft an ordinance, Jungermann said.
Jeff Jones, spokesperson for FORAG, attended the meeting between Wilson and the commission and said the effects of Amendment 1, the so called Right to Farm Act, were a point of concern for the county leaders. One of Jones' worries is that the mass amount of manure the hog farm produces could find its way into the water system. While applying hog manure from the Horstmeier's current operation to crop land, about 10,000 gallons of effluent spilled into a stream that flows through the Mark Twain National Forest and into Millers Creek earlier this week.
Jones said that public health should supersede the amendment.
"Nobody has the legal ability to pollute our waters and not be held accountable," he said.
Jungermann added that DNR, the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers are entities that will have more power than the commission in regulating any concentrated animal feeding operation.
"They really have more authority than a three-member board," he said.
Jungermann said the commission must "proceed with caution" in drafting any ordinance because it would apply to all Callaway County citizens and may have a "drastic" effect. He also said the commission would not want to create anything that could cause a lawsuit, so the commissioners will continue to work with Wilson on what's appropriate for the county.
"You have to take your time and work this out. ... Proceed carefully and do the right thing," he said.
The issue goes beyond Callaway County, Jungermann said, as other counties face similar situations, and the legislature may need to take action on a statewide basis.
A saturated hog farm industry in Iowa has swine production companies like Eichelberger looking at Missouri. According to University of Missouri swine specialist Tim Safranski, Missouri transports about 4 million pigs annually to Iowa for finishing. This ranks Missouri fifth in pig production, but first in pig inventory.
Control goes out of the commission's hands more as the EPA attempts to change the definition of waters, Jungermann said.
U.S. waters are regulated by the EPA, and the agency with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have proposed expanding the definition of waters to include non-navigable ditches and storm water flows.