"In the Texas Panhandle, which produces a fifth of the U.S. beef supply, communities are being choked by fecal dust from nearby feedlots. The state’s regulatory agency isn’t doing anything about it—and it’s about to get a whole lot worse," Christopher Collins reports for the Texas Observer in collaboration with the Food & Environment Reporting Network, and the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting.
In Hereford, Texas, a panhandle town of about 15,000, the odor is sometimes unbearable—and the smell isn't all. The wind frequently picks up tiny specks of dried manure from concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) and coats homes and businesses with it. The shust (a locally used portmanteau of "shit" and "dust") can sometimes limit visibility on the roads so much that drivers have to turn their headlights on, Collins reports.
Nearby residents say the shust causes problems with breathing, especially in small children, and many have complained to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. "From 2008 to 2017, at least 100 complaints about fecal dust and odor from feedlots have been registered with the agency, according to data obtained through an open records request. The comments reveal a problem potentially far graver than the smell," Collins reports. A four-month investigation found that "the agency performs only perfunctory investigations of the complaints: From 2014 to November 2019, TCEQ took no enforcement action against large beef feedlots in the Panhandle. The agency levied no fines and issued no warnings, its own records show."
Multiple studies have correlated the presence of CAFOs with health problems in children. "A 2009 study published by Oxford University Press found that doubling livestock production is correlated with a 7.4 percent increase in infant mortality due to respiratory disease. Another study, published in 2006, found that children living near CAFOs were at greater risk for asthma," Collins reports. "Despite this, the Texas Department of State Health Services does no monitoring or testing to determine whether living near feedlots or other CAFOs in the Panhandle compromises human health. TCEQ operates a network of air quality monitors around the state, but the agency hasn’t placed one in Hereford or other small towns where fecal dust pollution is most pronounced."
In Hereford, Texas, a panhandle town of about 15,000, the odor is sometimes unbearable—and the smell isn't all. The wind frequently picks up tiny specks of dried manure from concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) and coats homes and businesses with it. The shust (a locally used portmanteau of "shit" and "dust") can sometimes limit visibility on the roads so much that drivers have to turn their headlights on, Collins reports.
Nearby residents say the shust causes problems with breathing, especially in small children, and many have complained to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. "From 2008 to 2017, at least 100 complaints about fecal dust and odor from feedlots have been registered with the agency, according to data obtained through an open records request. The comments reveal a problem potentially far graver than the smell," Collins reports. A four-month investigation found that "the agency performs only perfunctory investigations of the complaints: From 2014 to November 2019, TCEQ took no enforcement action against large beef feedlots in the Panhandle. The agency levied no fines and issued no warnings, its own records show."
Multiple studies have correlated the presence of CAFOs with health problems in children. "A 2009 study published by Oxford University Press found that doubling livestock production is correlated with a 7.4 percent increase in infant mortality due to respiratory disease. Another study, published in 2006, found that children living near CAFOs were at greater risk for asthma," Collins reports. "Despite this, the Texas Department of State Health Services does no monitoring or testing to determine whether living near feedlots or other CAFOs in the Panhandle compromises human health. TCEQ operates a network of air quality monitors around the state, but the agency hasn’t placed one in Hereford or other small towns where fecal dust pollution is most pronounced."
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