Happy Earth Day!

Here below is just one of hundreds of enviromental problems facing us today and it has nothing to do with SUV's or liberals....
I'm a conservative and when conservatives like yourself make ignorant comments like your post here it only makes the situation worse.
Conservatives also become very ill and die from pollutants...everyday. I know I see it all the time.

Gasses emitted from liquid manure (slurry) lagoons and intensive livestock confinement buildings are having detrimental effects, not only on neighbors' quality of life, but also on their physical and mental health. Ammonia released from the surface of liquid manure storage structures also contributes to ammonia deposition in rainfall that can cause excessive growth of algae in surface waters and the loss of aquatic life due to oxygen depletion. Methane, carbon dioxide, and nitrous oxide are known to contribute to global warming.

The problem results from the anaerobic (absence of free oxygen) nature of manure that has been liquefied by the addition of water.1 The decomposition of liquid manure by anaerobic bacteria during storage and treatment produces and emits nearly 400 volatile organic compounds.2

Animal factories need not be large to create a problem. Prior to the mid-1980s, most small, independent farmers raised their animals in bedded shelters or barns with access to pastures and handled manure as a solid. This practice caused few neighbor complaints and few environmental problems. Increasingly, to save on labor and because it is the technology recommended by the industry and agricultural advisors at land grant universities, smaller farmers have adopted liquid manure handling systems. These farmers also can create detrimental effects, albeit on a more localized scale.

Odorous and Toxic Emissions

Compounds identified in liquid manure emissions include sulfides, disulfides, organic acids, alcohols, aldehydes, amines, fixed gasses, nitogen heterocycles, mercaptans, carbonyls, and esters.3 Also identified are carcinogens such as benzene4 and the mutagen phosphane.5 These compounds also may be found in emissions from cattle and hog slurry biogas processing plants. In addition to gasses, disease molecules can be carried on the wind for miles, potentially affecting the health of animals on other farms.6

When manure is not liquefied and bedding is used, the soiled bedding is stored in a solid form. Sufficient bedding creates a porous mixture wherein free air space provides conditions suitable for aerobic microbes to flourish.7 Decomposition of solid manure by aerobic bacteria begins a heating process called composting.8 This decomposition process produces heat, water vapor, carbon dioxide, and ammonia. Only ammonia is odorous and its emissions are low or negligible if farmers use enough carbon-rich bedding to keep wet spots in the beds covered and maintain a high carbon/nitrogen (C/N) ratio in the manure-bedding mixture. Carbon/nitrogen ratios of 36 to one or greater permit carbon in the bedding to bind ammonia nitrogen and prevent it from volatilizing.9 Generally, maintaining the top of the bedding pack in such a way as to provide a dry and comfortable environment for the animals will be sufficient to maintain a high C/N ratio and keep ammonia emissions negligible.

Odors associated with intensive hog production come from a mixture of urine, fresh and decomposing feces, spilled feed,10 and putrefying carcasses. They are in the air ventilated from buildings where the animals are intensively confined as well as in the air coming off liquid manure storage structures and fields where liquid manure has been spread. This air is distributed in the form of a plume that changes direction with the wind. Endotoxins produced by bacteria found in the air inside the buildings also may be present in the plume.11

Most research on manure odors by land grant university agricultural scientists has been directed toward developing and testing odor control technologies for liquid manure handling systems. However, both scientific evidence and human experience reveal that efforts to control odors are not synonymous with addressing liquid manure's potential to create serious public health problems.

Hydrogen sulfide is the most odorous of the manure gasses at low levels in the atmosphere. At higher levels, hydrogen sulfide paralyzes the olfactory senses but is still toxic. Manure gas accidents have demonstrated hydrogen sulfide's ability to kill [see Part 2. Putting Lives in Peril, above].

Past thinking has been that if an exposure to hydrogen sulfide has not been fatal, no bad effects linger.12 Scientists now believe that even at low, chronic concentrations, hydrogen sulfide is a potent neurotoxin and poses a serious, irreversible threat to human health. According to one scientist, "hydrogen sulfide poisons the brain and the poisoning is irreversible."13

Hydrogen sulfide interferes with an enzyme necessary for cells to make use of oxygen.14 Neurological tests of residents living close to oil refineries, another industry whose operations emit hydrogen sulfide, have shown pronounced deficits in balance and reaction time, attention deficits, and inability to process information quickly, "analogous to an outdated computer program. It runs, but it is maddeningly slow and inefficient."15 Dizziness, insomnia, and overpowering fatigue were reported by residents.

The dangers of hydrogen sulfide have been known for nearly three centuries. In 1713, an Italian physician published a discussion of "Diseases of Cleaners of Privies and Cesspits," in which he discusses painful and sometimes blinding eye inflammations. In the late 18th century, a scientific commission was appointed to investigate the illnesses and deaths of workers in the Paris sewers.16 The cause now appears to have been hydrogen sulfide.

Few states have hydrogen sulfide standards. Minnesota is an exception. However, agribusiness interests succeeded in weakening the law to lift the standard at peak manure spreading times. More recently, the Minnesota legislature has changed the definition of animal units, on which regulations for farms of different sizes are based, in such a way that hog farms having over 1,000 animal units of finishing hogs under the current definition would now be considered under 1,000 animal units and hence eligible for fewer environmental restrictions.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) does not currently regulate hydrogen sulfide emissions for any industry. The compound was removed from the federal Hazardous Air Pollutant List following pressure from the oil and gas industries. Subsequent pressure by the chemical and paper industries has kept it off the list despite petitions to reinstate it.17 Currently, a new petition to reinstate hydrogen sulfide, signed by scientists, environmental and other citizen groups, is before the Agency.18

Air Pollution Impacts on Neighbors

Health impacts of air pollution from intensive livestock farming on neighbors are both psychological and physiological.19 Odors greatly influence quality of life and enjoyment of property.

Neighbors to industrialized hog farms report not being able to go outdoors or let their children play outdoors. Some report lining their windows and fireplaces with plastic to keep outside air from coming into the house.20,21 Neighbors of Seaboard Farms, in Guymon, Oklahoma, told the Dallas Morning News: "We're farmers and ranchers who have roots in the land. Our private property rights have been taken away from us by pig producers."22 Another area resident told the News that she and her late father would sometimes stay a month at a time in an Elkhart, Kansas motel to get away from the odor. In November 1998, Time Magazine reported that neighbors of Seaboard Farms wore gas masks frequently to avoid breathing the odors from rotting hog carcasses, manure lagoons, and air vented from the barns.23 In Missouri, farmer Rolf Christen told Audubon Magazine, "On hot summer nights we have to shut the windows. We lie in bed at 2:00 a.m. sweating, and I get so mad. How does anybody have the right to stink up my place? You feel like a prisoner."24

Hog farm odors and the volatile organic compounds given off from manure lagoons appear to be especially hard for asthmatics to tolerate.25

In August 1999, a study led by epidemiologist Steven Wing of the University of North Carolina found that residents living near a 6,000-hog factory farm reported a higher occurrence of headaches, runny noses, sore throats, excessive coughing, diarrhea, and burning eyes than residents of a community where no liquid manure facilities were nearby.26 Quality of life, as indicated by the number of times residents could not open windows or go outside even in nice weather, was greatly reduced among residents living near the hog factory. North Carolina Pork Producers' director, Walter Cherry, asked for Wing's data, indicating that the Pork Council was considering whether the researchers had defamed the pork industry.27 Final results were released in February and confirmed the earlier results, but Cherry called it "junk science."28

A 1997 University of Iowa study compared responses of residents living near a 4,000-sow hog factory with a control group of residents living near minimal livestock production.29 Compared to individuals in the control group, residents living near the operation reported a higher incidence of toxic or inflammatory effects on the respiratory tract, similar to those experienced by hog confinement workers.

On February 15, 2000, the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) released its review of data from Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) hydrogen sulfide monitoring at the ValAdCo hog finishing site in Renville County.30 Stressing that its estimates were conservative due to limitations in data collection (monitors were unable to detect emissions above 90 parts per billion (ppb), for example), MDH stated that ValAdCo emissions violated the State standard 53 times in 1998 and 106 times in 1999. On 100 occasions over those two years the hydrogen sulfide emissions levels were at least 90 parts per billion.31 The number of violations occurring in 1999, after ValAdCo had started using a floating, permeable lagoon cover and straw cover, were double those of the previous year when there was no cover.32 In September 1999, over six hours in one day had levels greater than or equal to 90 ppb. The MDH concluded that the monitored concentrations are high enough to cause nausea and headaches and interfere with the quality of life of nearby residents. ValAdCo operators consistently maintained that their site posed no health hazards to neighbors, and despite the recent findings, continue to do so.33

Dr. Susan Schiffman, a psychologist at Duke University School of Medicine, studied 44 subjects living near North Carolina hog operations and 44 control participants not living near hog operations.34 Neighbors to the operations experienced odors both outdoors and inside their homes via open windows and air conditioning systems. The smell permeated clothing, curtains, and building materials, which released the odor over time. Persons living close to swine operations and subjected to liquid manure odors were significantly more angry, depressed, tense, fatigued, confused, and lethargic, and experienced more total mood disturbances than the controls. On days when subjects experienced odors, they almost never recorded a positive feeling. On the day following strong odors, moods were still depressed. Schiffman found that specific molecules in the odorous plumes from hog factories cause nasal and respiratory irritation.35 Nasal irritation can elevate adrenaline, which can contribute to anger and tension. The volatile organic compounds responsible for odors can be inhaled and transferred into blood and body fat. These compounds may be released over time, so that the exposed person continues to smell the odor after the plume carrying it has changed direction.

Pollutants in Rain Deposition

As much as 70 to 80% of the nitrogen in a lagoon changes from liquid to gas, which escapes into the atmosphere in a process called ammonia volatilization.36 In contrast (depending largely on the amount of carbon-rich bedding used, the more carbon, the lower the ammonia emissions), dry, pasture or solid manure handling systems lose only 15 to 40% of their nitrogen to the atmosphere.37

The gaseous ammonia returns to earth, precipitated from the atmosphere by rain or trapped by trees, grass, or water bodies, in a process called atmospheric deposition.38 In the Netherlands, where pigs outnumber people, atmospheric deposition of nitrogen is ten times greater than natural levels and the greatest deposition (50 to 60 kilograms per hectare per year) occurs in the southeastern portion of the country where the livestock industry is the most intensive.39 Nitrogen-enriched rainfall has damaged natural habitats in the Netherlands and changed the ecology of natural areas, causing some species of flora to disappear and other, high nitrogen-consuming species to take their place.40

The North Carolina Division of Air Quality estimates that collectively North Carolina's 2,400 large hog factories discharge at least 186 tons of ammonia into the air every day.41 As Environmental Defense scientist Joe Rudek pointed out, factory hog farms in North Carolina operate under non-discharge permits that prohibit them from dumping waste into streams and groundwater, yet they discharge ammonia to the environment continuously via emissions from their liquid manure lagoons.42 The permits also allow them to discharge to rivers during major storm events.43

For the past 20 years, researchers at the Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at North Carolina State University have examined rainfall data collected in Sampson County, in the heart of North Carolina's "hog belt."44 Beginning in 1985, ammonia in Sampson County's rain began to rise. By 1995, ammonia in the rain had doubled, while ammonia levels outside the hog belt had not changed significantly. The timing of the increase coincided with the rapid proliferation of industrial hog farms in North Carolina. For researchers, there is no other possible source. Said Viney Aneja, the North Carolina State University Professor who led the state-funded study, "There is an overenrichment of our ecosystems. We now know the source is the hog industry."45

A typical five-acre hog waste lagoon, during an average North Carolina summer, releases 15 to 30 tons of ammonia into the air.46 About half the ammonia rises as a gas and generally falls to forests, fields, or open water within 50 miles, either in rain or fog. The rest is transformed into dry particles, which travel up to 250 miles. Ammonia is the most potent form of nitrogen that triggers algae blooms and causes fish kills in coastal waters.47 The North Carolina Division of Water Quality estimates that hog factories constitute the largest source of airborne ammonia in North Carolina more than cattle, chickens, and turkeys combined.48 In 1995, University of North Carolina marine ecologist, Hans Paerl, reported that airborne ammonia had risen 25% each year since 1991 in Morehead City, 90 miles downwind of the hog belt.49 Paerl also reported traces of pure urine in rain.

Greenhouse Gasses Produced

The "greenhouse effect" is a natural and beneficial process by which the gasses in the earth's atmosphere trap solar energy to warm the planet.50 However, human activity has increased the amount of greenhouse gasses. Carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide are the most common agricultural gasses contributing to the greenhouse effect. Water vapor also contributes.

Carbon dioxide

Carbon dioxide is the most voluminous of the greenhouse gasses, but it has less than two percent of the warming effect of methane and less than 0.5 percent of the warming effect of nitrous oxide. It is also being constantly absorbed from the atmosphere by oceans, soils, and plants.

Once emitted to the atmosphere, carbon dioxide is the easiest of the greenhouse gasses to remove.51 Animals breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. Plants take in carbon dioxide, photosynthesize the carbon into plant tissue, and release oxygen. Some carbon is released when plants die or it can be stored in live plants and trees or in soil.

Research by the Center for Rural Affairs finds that agriculture can reduce its carbon dioxide emissions and manage productive land in a way that removes carbon from the atmosphere and stores it in the soil and living plants.52 Farmers can (1) plant trees as windbreaks, (2) plant grass on previously cultivated land, (3) reduce soil erosion to levels that are offset by natural soil formation, (4) reduce fossil fuel use, and (5) rebuild organic matter (carbon) in cultivated soils.

Organic matter can be rebuilt in cultivated soils by returning crop residues to the soil, reducing tillage intensity, minimizing fallowing, and rotating row crops with grasses and deep-rooted legumes. Returning manure to the land is most beneficial if the carbon and nitrogen nutrients in the manure have been stabilized by composting.53

Methane

Methane is a highly potent greenhouse gas. Nearly half of all methane emissions are from agriculture.54 Other sources include lakes, wetlands, oceans, and tropical forests. Bacteria produce methane in the absence of oxygen (anaerobically). Hence, anaerobic digestion of liquid manure is a major source of agriculturally produced methane into the atmosphere. The other major agricultural source is fermentation of food organic matter during ruminant digestion. It is estimated that nearly 63 million tons per year, of the 88 million tons produced by digestion in all animals, is produced by cattle.55

The waste characteristics of the animal species and the animals' diets affect how much methane is emitted by manure. But the key factor is the way in which the manure is handled once it has been excreted.56

Nearly half the manure methane emissions from cattle and hogs in the United States before 1992 came from anaerobic lagoon waste management systems.57 Since then, the number of factory farms using anaerobic lagoon systems has increased as hog and dairy cattle factories have proliferated across the United States. The number of smaller farms operating anaerobic lagoon systems has increased dramatically as well. Hence, manure methane emissions from anaerobic lagoon systems account for a much greater proportion of the total livestock emissions today.

Unstable organic matter in liquified manure also can have negative effects on the physical properties of the soil, filling cavities between soil particles, excluding air from between solid particles and creating anaerobic conditions that lead to production of gasses such as methane and ethylene.58

Nitrous oxide

Nitrous oxide is released from natural processes in the soil, from nitrogen fertilizer, fossil fuel combustion, animal and human wastes, water bodies, and biomass burning and land clearing. Nitrous oxide is the least prevalent of these three gasses, but it is one of the most potent greenhouse gasses.59 Nitrous oxide has over 200 times the warming effect of carbon dioxide and lasts 150 years in the atmosphere. However, because it is not prevalent, it has contributed to only about three percent of the global warming. Hence, in livestock production, methane and carbon dioxide are the relevant greenhouse gasses.60

Potential Solutions

Emission processes suggest that the most significant contribution to reducing in greenhouse gasses that farmers can make is to change manure management.61 This change can be toward more complex and capital-intensive liquid manure management systems, such as sophisticated methods of methane collection, solids separation, and biogas production, or toward more natural management systems such as pasture or solid manure. Which direction we choose will have implications both on how well other social goals are met and for the structure of animal agriculture. The two main gasses emitted in solid manure handling and storage, carbon dioxide and ammonia, are easily taken up, carbon dioxide by plants and ammonia by the bedding materials. Solid manure using straw or other grain-based bedding also replenishes the soil carbon. Solid manure handling with composting is more labor and management intensive and, hence, the less costly choice for independent farmers, while the more capital-intensive systems may be the only option for the largest animal factories.

At animal factory sites where large amounts of waste are generated, composting can also produce odorous volatile compounds that create air pollution and "should be carried out in closed reactors with sufficient treatment of exhaust air."62 Bion Environmental Technologies (Part 3. Building Sewerless Cities) designs, sets up, and operates systems at animal factory sites that "bioconvert" liquid animal waste into a fertilizer material called BionSoil.63 BionSoil is then certified as an organic product to which Bion Environmental Technologies retains the rights. As of August 1999, it operates 16 animal waste systems in six states with additional systems in the stages of design, permitting, or construction. Bion's clients include Murphy Farms, Continental Grain, and Smithfield Foods.

The BionSoil conversion process is also touted as being able to control odors. However, in December 1999, the Illinois Attorney General filed a lawsuit against The Highlands, LLC, a 3,650-sow, farrow-to-wean hog factory in Illinois, for alleged odor violations that occurred since the Highlands opened in 1997.64,65 Over 230 complaints of offensive odor from the facility had been lodged. Co-defendants in the suit are Murphy Family Farms, which owns the hogs and shares in the operation of the factory, and Bion Technologies, Inc., which designed and shares in the operation of the Highlands' waste handling system. The Attorney General asked for an injunction to stop further violations of the law, for civil fines of up to $50,000 for each violation and an additional fine of $10,000 for each day the violations continued.

Some Strategies and Action Alternatives for Clean Air from Animal Production

1. Call for and support the reclassification of animal factories as manufacturing entities rather than as agricultural.
Rationale: Animal factories more nearly resemble manufacturing than farming. A farming classification exempts animal factories from some federal and state environmental regulations and monitoring, to which they rightfully ought to be subject by virtue of the toxic and environmentally damaging emissions created in the normal course of their operations. The classification of hog factories as farms rather than industrial facilities prevents meaningful regulation. For example, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that all hog farms, regardless of size, are agricultural in nature and may not be regulated by counties.

2. Call for a nationwide ban on liquefying animal manure as a way of dealing with waste from animals raised for food. Ban all new construction of liquefied manure storage systems and require existing operations to phase in solid manure handling over the next 10 years.

Rationale: Leakage from liquid manure storages can be gradual and, if failures occur, the discharges can be catastrophic. Waste discharges from the largest hog factories (and other confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs)) are currently permitted under the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Because of loopholes in the regulations, inadequate permit conditions, and inadequate enforcement of the Clean Water Act, facilities are still polluting the water. Moreover, animal factories also leak pollutants to the air. Over 400 volatile organic compounds have been found in emissions from anaerobic hog lagoons. In North Carolina alone, 186 tons of ammonia a day are discharged from liquid animal waste storages. Compared to the life-threatening and polluting leakages from liquid manure storage and handling, the problems with solid manure systems that use abundant grained-based bedding are more manageable; the benefits to the environment are unequivocal. The Environmental Protection Agency will be addressing whether lagoons can continue to be used as it revises the effluent guidelines for feedlots in the next two years.

3. Require manufactured covers on all existing liquid manure storage structures and "scrubbers" over vents leaving hog buildings to help control air pollution.

Rationale: Chopped straw covers and other ad hoc methods cannot adequately control emissions of potentially dangerous volatile organic compounds created in the anaerobic digestion of liquid manure.

4. Support public education, empowerment, and the ability of counties and township governments to exert local control over the siting and behavior of hog factories.

Rationale: Across the nation, groups of citizens are organizing to make hog factory owners liable for the damage they do to rural quality of life and the environment. They need reliable information concerning the hazards of hog factories and effective remedies. They need legal assistance to help prevent the erosion of their rights to health, enjoyment of property, and quality of life. They also need financial support.

5. Call for and support policies that would provide financial assistance to independent hog farmers switching from liquid manure handling to solid manure handling using composting as a treatment process.

Rationale: According to the Center for Rural Affairs, the single most significant contribution to reduction in greenhouse gasses that farms can make is to change manure management.

Compared to liquid manure, the number of gasses emitted by solid manure handling systems is very few. Plants and trees easily take up carbon dioxide. A high carbon/nitrogen ratio will prevent ammonia volatilization. In the long run, adoption of solid manure handling practices is the least costly and most effective odor- and pollution-reducing option for small farmers. Buildings can be designed with minimal equipment and large doors for efficient cleanout by tractor.

6. Ban spray irrigation as a manure disposal method in existing liquid-based manure systems. Require that manure be "knifed" into the soil while being spread or that it be tilled into the soil within 24 hours of spreading.

Rationale: Spray irrigating manure provides opportunity for dispersal of parasites and pathogens into the natural environment, potentially infecting wildlife and grazing farm animals. Ammonia is released into the air during spray irrigation. Odors from spray irrigation of liquid manure make life miserable for neighbors to animal factories and there is the potential for uneven application as sprayers stand in one place for long periods of time.

7. Scientifically determine how manure gasses are affecting the ecology of given geographic areas.

Rationale: The scientific basis is being established that links ammonia volatilization from liquid manure lagoons in North Carolina to the algae pollution of estuaries and other surface waters on the Eastern seaboard. This scientific information is being used to inform regulation of the Carolina hog industry. However, little is known about how ammonia volatilization and deposition affect prairies or desert areas where many hog factories are now locating. A better understanding of the impacts of manure gas pollutants on the ecology of given geographic areas will make it easier to demand appropriate regulation and enforcement in those areas.

8. Conduct a legal investigation of the Clean Air Act's potential for regulating emissions from animal factories and campaign to ensure implementation of the Act.

Rationale: Animal factories are industrial sites whose waste handling procedures emit large quantities of hazardous compounds into the air. They should be regulated along with other industries that are subject to emissions control under the Clean Air Act.

9. Support the recent petition to add hydrogen sulfide to the EPA's of Hazardous Air Pollutant List.

Rationale: This is the first step in getting this toxic pollutant regulated under the Clean Air Act.

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References

1 Strauch, D., (Ed.) (1987). Animal production and environmental health. New York: Elsevier Science Publishing, Inc.

2 Schiffman, S. (1999). Unpublished manuscript. Durham, NC: Duke University School of Medicine and Allied Health.

3 Schiffman, S.S., Sattely-Miller, E.A., Suggs, M.S., and Graham, B.G. (1998). Mood Changes Experienced by Persons Living Near Commercial Swine Operations. In Thu, K.M. and Durrenberger, E.P., (Eds.), Pigs, Profits, and Rural Communities (pp. 84-102). Albany: State University of New York Press.

4 Strauch, D., (Ed.) (1987). Animal production and environmental health. New York: Elsevier Science Publishing, Inc.

5 Glindemann, D. and Bergmann, A. (1995). Spontaneous emission of phosphane from animal slurry treatment processing. Zbl. Hyg. 198, 49-56.

6 Strauch, D., (Ed.) (1987). Animal production and environmental health. New York: Elsevier Science Publishing, Inc.

7 Rynk, R. (1992, June). On-farm composting handbook. NRAES-54. Ithaca, NY: Northeast Regional Agricultural Engineering Service. Cooperative Extension.

8 Strauch, D. and Ballarini, G. (1994). Hygienic aspects of the production and agricultural use of animal wastes. J. Vet. Med. B, 41:176-228.

9 Poincelot, R. (1994). Professor of Biochemistry, Fairfield University, Fairfield, Connecticut. Personal communication with Marlene Halverson.

10-11 Strauch, D., (Ed.) (1987). Animal production and environmental health. New York: Elsevier Science Publishing, Inc.

12-17 Morris, J. (1997, November 12). New alarm over hydrogen sulfide. The Brimstone Battles: A Houston Chronicle Special Report. http://www.chron.com/content/chronicle/nation/h2s/index.html

18 Robbin Marks, Natural Resources Defense Council. Personal communication with Marlene Halverson.

19-20 Schiffman, S.S., Sattely-Miller, E.A., Suggs, M.S., and Graham, B.G. (1998). Mood Changes Experienced by Persons Living Near Commercial Swine Operations. In Thu, K.M. and Durrenberger, E.P., (Eds.), Pigs, Profits, and Rural Communities (pp. 84-102). Albany: State University of New York Press.

21-22 Lee, S.H. (1999, October 3). Days of swine and noses: 'Factory' hog farms raise stink, health concerns, but supporters say plants fatten small-town economies. The Dallas Morning News.

23 Barlett, D. and Steele, J.B. (1998, November 30). The empire of the pigs: A little known company is a master at milking governments for welfare. Time. pp. 52-54.

24 Williams, T. (1998, March-April). Assembly line swine: Factory hog farms are proliferating across rural America, packing pigs into cages, fouling waterways, and creating a major stink. Audubon. pp. 26-33.

25 Lee, S.H. (1999, October 3). Days of swine and noses: 'Factory' hog farms raise stink, health concerns, but supporters say plants fatten small-town economies. The Dallas Morning News.

26 Wing, S. & Wolf, S. (1999, May 6). Intensive Livestock Operations, Health and Quality of Life Among Eastern North Carolina Residents. A Report Prepared for North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Public Health. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology.

27 Williams, L. (1999, August 1). Health links inconclusive: Possibility of adverse effects on health adds to debate over hog farms. Fayetteville (NC) Online.

28 Mooneyham, S. (2000, February 2). Health problems found by hog farms. Associated Press.

29 Thu, K., Donham, K., Ziegenhorn, R., Reynolds, S., Thorne, P.S., Subramanian, P., Whitten, P., & Stookesberry, J. (1997). A control study of the physical and mental health of residents living near a large-scale swine operation. Journal of Agricultural Safety and Health, 3,13-26.

30-32 Ison, C. (2000, February 20). State Health Department acknowledges health risks of feedlots. Minneapolis Star Tribune.

33 Marbery, S. (2000, March 20). Co-op contests odor memo. Feedstuffs Magazine.

34-35 Schiffman, S.S., Sattely-Miller, E.A., Suggs, M.S., and Graham, B.G. (1998). Mood Changes Experienced by Persons Living Near Commercial Swine Operations. In Thu, K.M. and Durrenberger, E.P., (Eds.), Pigs, Profits, and Rural Communities (pp. 84-102). Albany: State University of New York Press.

36-40 Jackson, L. (1998). Large scale swine production and water quality. In Thu, K.M. and Durrenberger, E.P., (Eds.), Pigs, Profits, and Rural Communities (pp. 84-102). Albany: State University of New York Press.

41-42 Leavenworth, S. and Shiffer, J.E. (1998, July 5). Airborne Menace. The News & Observer, Raleigh, North Carolina.

43 Robbin Marks. March 2000. Personal communication with the author.

44 Leavenworth, S. and Shiffer, J.E. (1998, July 5). Airborne Menace. The News & Observer, Raleigh, North Carolina.

45 Eddy, M. (1999, February 18). Hog farms' air pollution cited. Denver Post.

46-48 Leavenworth, S. and Shiffer, J.E. (1998, July 5). Airborne Menace. The News & Observer, Raleigh, North Carolina.

49 Paerl, H.W. (Undated). Atmospheric emission and deposition of nitrogen generated from animal wastes and fossil fuel combustion: The problem, water quality impacts, research and management considerations. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, Institute of Marine Sciences.

50-57 Bird, E. and Strange, M. (1992). Mare's Tails and Mackerel Scales: The Stormy Prospect of Global WarmingWhat it Means to Farming in the Middle BorderAnd What Farmers and Farm Policy Can Do About It. Walthill, NE: Center for Rural Affairs.

58 Voorburg, J.H. and Ciavatta, C. (1993). The utilization of animal manure and the protection of the environment. Report of the Scientific Committee of the European Conference on Environment, Agriculture, Stock Farming in Europe, Numbers I-XVII, Mantua, Italy, 1990-1993. Mantova: Camera di Commercio, Industria Artigianato E Agricultura.

59-61 Bird, E. and Strange, M. (1992). Mare's Tails and Mackerel Scales: The Stormy Prospect of Global WarmingWhat it Means to Farming in the Middle BorderAnd What Farmers and Farm Policy Can Do About It. Walthill, NE: Center for Rural Affairs.

62 Voorburg, J.H. and Ciavatta, C. (1993). The utilization of animal manure and the protection of the environment. Report of the Scientific Committee of the European Conference on Environment, Agriculture, Stock Farming in Europe, Numbers I-XVII, Mantua, Italy, 1990-1993. Mantova: Camera di Commercio, Industria Artigianato E Agricultura.

63 Business Wire. (1999, August 27). Corporate profile for Bion environmental technologies. (BUSINESS WIRE on-line).

64 Anonymous. (1999, December 21). State sues area hog-raising farm. The Register-Mail (Galesburg IL). A1.

65 Colindres, A. (1999, December 22). State sues hog farm because of odors. State Journal-Register (Springfield, IL).