Californians complain about 'dead skunk' smell of pot farms

Mike Wondolowski sometimes wears a respirator when
outdoors to escape the smell. (NYT photo by Jim Wilson)

With recreational marijuana now legal, cannabis is a booming agriculture sector in California. But many who live near such operations often complain that the farms could attract crime, damage the land, and use up scarce water resources. And now, a new complaint: the smell.

"As a result of the stench, residents in Sonoma County, north of San Francisco, are suing to ban cannabis operations from their neighborhoods. Mendocino County, farther north, recently created zones banning cannabis cultivation — the sheriff’s deputy there says the stink is the No. 1 complaint," Thomas Fuller reports for The New York Times.

One Sonoma resident, Mike Wondolowski, told Fuller: "If someone is saying, 'Is it really that bad?' I’ll go find a bunch of skunks and every evening I’ll put them outside your window . . . It’s just brutal."

Many cannabis farmers are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on odor-control systems originally designed for garbage dumps. Cannabis executives say the plant is no different than other agricultural sectors that generate smelly waste, such as dairy farms or concentrated animal feeding operations, Fuller reports.

But neighbors' objections to the smell are only one of the problems plaguing the marijuana industry in California. "After nearly one year of recreational sales in California, much of the cannabis industry remains underground. Stung by taxes and voluminous paperwork, only around 5 percent of marijuana farmers in the state have licenses, according to Hezekiah Allen, the executive director of the California Growers Association, a marijuana advocacy group," Fuller reports. "Sales of legal cannabis are expected to exceed $3 billion this year, only slightly higher than medical marijuana sales from last year. Tax revenues have been lower than expected, and only about one-fifth of California cities allow sales of recreational cannabis. The dream of a fully regulated market seems years off."

Alabama towns protest backup of rail cars full of New York City sewage sludge headed for local landfill

Rural residents in Northern Alabama put their foot down about shipments of sewage solids from New York City, resulting in a legal dispute that has left 200 shipping containers full of the smelly stuff rotting in train cars, stalled for six weeks near Parrish, Ala., on their way to a nearby landfill.

Locals have been complaining about the stink and flies for the past year and a half that New York has been shipping the waste to Big Sky Landfill in Adamsville, 25 miles away from Parrish. At a recent public hearing on a permit renewal for Big Sky, Charlies Nix, mayor of nearby West Jefferson, said the train cars frequently leak sticky sewage sludge on his town's roads. "I never dreamed someone could flush a commode in New York, and it would run out in my backyard," he said.

"This is a little-seen part of daily life in America. Big cities produce more waste than they can dispose of," Valerie Bauerlein and Kate King report for the Wall Street Journal. "All across the country, pipes, trucks and trains carry waste elsewhere to be incinerated, dumped or used as fertilizer. Over the past decade, private landfills in the rural South have agreed to take sludge from out of state. But communities near landfills like Big Sky are increasingly pushing back, saying the tax revenue and jobs don’t outweigh the negative effects."

The Parrish Town Council voted Feb. 28 to deny Big Sky a local business license but "did grant temporary approval for the company to remove the more than 250 metal containers," Elaine Jones of the Jasper Daily Mountain Eagle reported. Mayor Heather Hall said, “When the temperatures reached 80 degrees . . . the smell became unbearable.”A Big Sky spokesman blamed the backlog of cars on delays by Norfolk Southern Railway and said “You will never again see this number of rail cars on this site.”

The mayors of Parrish and West Jefferson met with Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey this week, asking her help in stopping the flow of New York waste to their area. State regulators are expected to decide soon whether to renew Big Sky's permit, following public hearings, soliciting written comments, and reviewing the company's regulatory records.

Booming dairy industry in Wisconsin county causing concern that too many cattle hurts rural life

Kewaunee County, Wisconsin
 (Wikipedia map)

A thriving dairy industry in one Wisconsin county is causing a divide over whether too many cattle is hurting rural life, Lee Bergquist reports for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture says that since 1983, cattle numbers in Kewaunee County have increased 62 percent to 97,000, while statewide numbers have dropped 20 percent. But the increase in cattle also has led to concern about large-scale operations hurting small farmers, manure's effect on the environment, odors, pollution and increased truck traffic.

Department of Natural Resources data shows that Kewaunee County ranks third statewide with 16 mega-sized dairy farms, trailing only neighboring Brown County, 20, and Manitowoc, 18, Bergquist writes. "In Wisconsin, the number of concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) has grown by 400 percent from 50 in 2000 to 252 in 2016, agency figures show, and has played a key role in growing milk production as farm numbers are falling." A report by University of Wisconsin-Madison economists "estimated that farms of 500 or more cows accounted for 40 percent of state milk production in 2013 compared to 22 percent in 2007."

For some, those numbers are out of control, Bergquist writes. Lee Luft, a retired executive and a member of the Kewaunee County Board who "said farming and water pollution have become inextricably tied in local politics," told Bergquist, "There’s simply too many cows."

Bergquist notes, "Kewaunee County’s three major rivers—the Ahnapee, East Twin and Kewaunee—all violate state standards for phosphorus pollution. Manure is a source of phosphorus. In excess, it promotes algae blooms. The rivers were placed on a state list of impaired waters in either 2014 or 2016."

"Alarmed by reports of polluted wells, Kewaunee County residents in 2015 voted overwhelming to support an ordinance restricting manure spreading in winter and early spring on fields with 20 feet or less of soil," Bergquist reports. "It was the first time a Wisconsin county took such action."

"CAFO critics wanted higher fees for big farms," Bergquist writes. "But Republican Gov. Scott Walker did not boost the fees in his budget, which is now before lawmakers. Walker did propose a study that could turn over regulation of CAFOs to the state agriculture department — a measure pushed by a farm group, the Wisconsin Dairy Business Association, and opposed by environmental groups."

Rural South Dakota residents frustrated with odors coming from nearby hog farm

Rural residents in Davison County, South Dakota (Wikipedia map) vented their frustrations on Tuesday to the county commission that little has been done to reduce unpleasant odors from a neighborhood hog farm, Evan Hendershot reports for the Grand Forks Herald.

"In June 2014, four of Jackrabbit Farms' neighbors came before the commission to discuss their concerns with the facility's exhaust system that allegedly pumps out a harsh smell," Hendershot writes. "Since that meeting, Jackrabbit Farms officials say it has spent $30,000 on biofilters meant to lessen the intensity of the odor and has applied microbes meant for odor reduction. But resident Marilyn Reimnitz said the odor has not subsided since then. Her husband Lyle Reimnitz told commissioners, "We shouldn't have to live in misery down here. Nobody should have to."

Neighbors, who claim Jackrabbit Farms' biofilter is not up to the standard needed to decrease the odor, brought in experts to back up that claim, Hendershot writes. "Laura Krebsbach, renewable harvest project director with the Socially Responsible Agricultural Project, argued on behalf of Jackrabbit Farms' neighbors for the commission to force the facility located in Baker Township to improve its biofilter. Krebsbach claims Pipestone Systems does not want to invest the money needed for an improved biofilter."

"The farm, which was approved by the commission in 2012, houses 5,000 sows and produces about 3,000 piglets each week," Hendershot writes. Pipestone System, which manages the farm, "said it has done all it could to reduce the smell. But the microbe treatment Pipestone applied is expected to take a year to reduce the odor." (Read more)

Greek yogurt company has brought jobs, and 'nasty' odor, to rural Idaho town

It's getting stinky in the 250-population town of Hollister, Idaho. In December, Chobani opened the world's largest yogurt plant, a $450 million, 1,000-employee facility on 200 acres in Twin Falls. That's 20 miles from Hollister, where the company is dumping hundreds of thousands of gallons of acid whey -- a smelly manufacturing byproduct of Greek yogurt -- into irrigation ponds, mixed with water and applied to fields as a soil amendment, Carissa Wolf reports for Boise Weekly. (Weekly photo by Larry Wolf: Chobani plant)

Hollister resident Mike Courtnay, who lives near an irrigation pond, told Wolf, "I don't know if you've smelled whey or not. It is nasty. Really nasty." Mike's wife Deb told Wolf, "I was raised on a farm that had 3,000 pigs and we had whey. And it is not a bad smell at first, but when it gets hot, it ferments and it's a horrible, horrible smell. It's going to ruin the aquifer here. We have a very shallow one here. Our water stands at 30 feet. We don't want to cause problems, but we don't want our livelihoods to change either." (Wolf photo: Mike and Deb Courtnay)

Some Hollister residents are also concerned about the impact on the environment, and the constant vehicle traffic in an area that was once nearly deserted, Wolf writes. "As whey soaked the soil, temperatures climbed and the wind blew across the land, prompting neighbors to grill the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality and government officials about noise pollution from heavy traffic, farming rights, disclosure, environmental sustainability and, in general, the smell of the newest operation up the road." It's the same concerns raised by residents near a Cobani plant in upstate New York, in New Berlin.

Hollister residents trying to get their questions answered have had little success, Wolf writes. Residents "called every government agency they could think of, trying to find solutions to what Mike Courtnay puts in the nuisance category. Calls to Chobani representatives went unanswered. Conversations with Idaho DEQ officials were vague. Neighbors say they heard that government agencies were told to look the other way and let Chobani do what it wants." They say they feel no one cares, because it's just a small, remote town that no one ever visits. Resident Carl Jones told Wolf, "If I hauled 2,000 loads of crap and dumped it in Boise, I'd be sitting in a courtroom." (Read more)

Odor study indicates air pollution from industrial hog farms can increase neighbors' blood pressure

Air pollution from large-scale pig farms may increase blood pressure in people living nearby, according to a University of North Carolina study. For two weeks, residents sat outside their homes, then measured their blood pressure. When odors from the pig farms were strongest, blood pressure rose slightly. High blood pressure is a risk factor for stroke and heart diseases, and many pig operations in North Carolina are located near low-income communities where residents are already at higher risk for such ailments, Virginia Guidry and Wendy Hessler of Environmental Health News report. (Photo by Jeff Vanuga)

The study, "Air pollution from industrial swine operations and blood pressure of neighboring residents," was conducted from 2003 to 2005 with 101 adults living within 2 miles of industrial pig farms. They sat outside for 10 minutes twice a day to record measurements of blood pressure. Air pollution monitors near their homes measured levels of hydrogen sulfide, a chemical in decomposing manure, and particulate matter, dust that comes from the farms.

Results showed that diastolic blood pressure increased by 2 millimeters of mercury during periods when odors were strong. High hydrogen sulfide levels increased systolic blood pressure, with a 10 part per billion rise of the chemical increasing systolic pressure by 3 millimeters of mercury. These effects were highest in men and those over 54 years old. The study found that these small increases in blood pressure could have "important public health implications," Guidry and Hessler report. It increases the risk of hypertension, stroke and heart disease. (Read more)

McCain's '10 porkiest' earmarks are mostly rural

Earmarks are coming under fresh fire, with Congress debating an omnibus spending bill to fund much of the government for the fiscal year ends Sept. 30. In an article for the Daily Yonder, Douglas Burns reports that six of the “10 porkiest” earmarks identified by Republican Sen. John McCain would benefit rural Americans.

Burns, of Carroll, Iowa, focuses on McCain's No.1: a $1.8 million project for swine odor and manure management at Iowa State University. Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, who helped secure the funding, says that while pig odor may seem amusing, it is a serious problem in Iowa. He says the state has 20 million pigs, which create eight times the amount of waste as people do. “That’s like having 160 million people in the state of Iowa with no kind of control over effluent,” Harkin said. “As you know we have problems with our rivers and our streams, with odor. This is legitimate research.”

Burns writes that other rural projects on McCain's list include "study of grape genetics; beaver management in North Carolina and Mississippi; cricket control in Utah; a world trade center in Montana; and a honey bee factory in the ag-intensive Rio Grande Valley of Texas." (Read more)

In Iowa, manure replaces costly chemical fertilizer

The use of pig manure on Iowa cornfields is helping farmers' pocketbooks and the environment at the same time. The manure is replacing chemical fertilizers for many Iowa farmers because of the rising cost of natural gas used to make chemical fertilizers. Pig manure, an environmental problem if spilled into water or stored in large amounts, now has found a use as a natural fertilizer after years of neglect. (Register photo)

"Spills of manure can foul creeks and kill fish, and large confinements emit hazardous fumes that harm lungs and burn eyes and noses," reports Dan Piller of The Des Moines Register. "When properly managed and applied, however, manure becomes a valuable homegrown resource that can replace fertilizers made from fossil fuels and imported minerals."

Manure had largely been ignored by farmers because of the affordability of chemical fertilizers. Those prices increased from "the $150-per-ton range, above $500 per ton by 2006," writes Piller. "They doubled again to more than $1,000 per ton by last fall when farmers were ready for their post-harvest applications." The roughly sixfold increase in the price of chemical fertilizers forced farmers to consider other options.

The pig farmers have responded to the new demand for manure by increasing the size and scope of pig containments over the past few years. "As recently as 2000, we had to beg farmers to take manure away," said Howard Hill, chief operating officer of Iowa Select Farms in Iowa Falls, whose company finishes about 3 million pigs in confinements in Iowa. "Now, I hear about feuds among farmers about who has first crack at it." According to Iowa State University, a 1,200-head confinement can bring in $50,000 from the once worthless manure produced. That number is up from $17,500 in 2007. (Read more)

Iowa ag chief seeks $22 million to fight animal odor

Iowa's new agriculture secretary wants to spend $22 million over the next five years to find ways to control livestock odor. Bill Northey told a gathering in Fort Dodge that "Livestock producers are interested in odor-fighting technologies," which would be voluntary even if the state Legislature approves the plan, Bill Shea writes for the Fort Dodge Messenger.

"This offers a chance to really address the science behind it and get some stuff on the ground," Northey said at Iowa Central Community College, the day after he unveiled the idea before a state legislative committee. "The plan, he said, is to set up odor-fighting technologies on farms across the state and then assess how well they work," Shea reports. "He said he hopes to have some results to share with farmers after the first year of the program."

Two techniques Northey expects to be tested are vegetative buffers and biofilters, which "place natural substances such as wet bark near the ventilation fans of animal confinements. He said the wet bark reduces odor by 40 percent to 70 percent, but requires farmers to install bigger fans. . . . Currently, there are no state laws to regulate odors from livestock confinements." (Read more)

The plan got a salute from the Storm Lake Times, which said in an editorial, "For years the state has tried to deny that we have a problem, but now we are acknowledging that we have work to do at the state level. . . . This could be the first major step in ending the bitterness and division that has plagued rural Iowa for more than a decade." (Read more)

EPA, universities start two-year, nine-state study of air pollution from animal-feeding operations

We know manure stinks, and our personal opinion is that hog manure stinks worst, but the Environmental Protection Agency says it needs a stronger scientific basis to charge animal-feeding operations with violating the Clean Air Act, so EPA and eight universities have begun a two-year study of the operations' air emissions. Voluntary monitoring will be conducted at 24 sites in nine states -- California, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas and Wisconsin, "representing a cross section of the country's animal feeding operations," says Brownfield news service.

"EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson says the study is a collaborative effort between the EPA and the livestock industry that will provide the agency with the information they need to ensure that livestock operations are being good environmental neighbors," Brownfield's Jason Vance writes. The study is being funded by operators of 14,000 "swine, dairy, egg-laying and broiler chicken (meat-bird) farms" as part of a January 2005 deal with EPA, the agency said in a release.

Notice they named swine first. No offense to hog farmers; your blogger speaks from personal experience, having raised hogs as a 4-H member. Click here for the detailed EPA Web site for the program. Purdue University of Indiana is the lead research agency. Its partners are University of California-Davis; Cornell University of New York; Iowa State University; University of Minnesota; North Carolina State University; Texas A&M University; and Washington State University.