3/3/09

Efforts to regulate concentrated animal feeding operations get bipartisan support in Indiana House

Two bills that will regulate concentrated animal feeding operations have passed the Indiana House with bipartisan support and advance to the Indiana Senate.

House Bill 1075, which restricts the location of new CAFOs and confined feeding operations to two miles from state park and reservoir boundaries, passed on its third reading Tuesday morning by a 51-47 vote.

Area state representatives Phil Pflum, a Democrat, and Republicans Tom Saunders and Tom Knollman supported the setback bill. The bill was amended to allow existing livestock operations within the two-mile perimeter to expand, which was an issue for some representatives, Saunders said.

"If they are good neighbors, there's no reason not to allow expansion," Saunders said.

House Bill 1074, which requires the Indiana Department of Environmental Management to consider any environmental problems a CAFO or CFO applicant may have had with previous operations in the prior three years, was approved on a 64-32 vote.


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