by Dana Ripper and Maxine Gill, MCE Policy Coordinator
On Thursday May 29, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources hosted a public hearing discussing seven proposed poultry CAFOs in Lawrence and Newton counties. Missourians from across the state who strongly opposed these CAFOs gathered at the Pierce City High School Gymnasium to make their voices heard, including MCE Director of Policy and Strategy Melissa Vatterott, and several of our partners and allies.
These proposed CAFOs would hold a total of 1,748,925 chickens at any one time, and produce about 16,000 tons of waste per year. The CAFO operators have managed to avoid accountability for their waste by exploiting a loophole allowing them to declare their disposal method as “export only.” This means that operators pass off waste management responsibility to a third party, which are not required to adhere to regulations.
Lawrence and Newton counties both rest upon karst topography, a vacuous underground landscape created by water erosion featuring sinkholes, permeable bedrock, caves, and underground rivers. This landscape is much more sensitive to pollution from CAFO waste, as many natural barriers preventing the seepage of waste into groundwater are absent. Geohydrologic evaluations conducted on the proposed CAFO sites revealed significant likelihood for groundwater contamination on every single location.
Nearby residents stand to pay a high price should these proposed CAFOs be constructed. Neighbors will face the externalized health costs associated with nutrient pollution, pathogenic bacteria, and antibiotics seeping into their drinking water, and malodors that will impair their daily lives and could lead to respiratory illness. Property values within 6 miles of these facilities are likely to decrease by an average of 30%.
These CAFOs will impair the local ecosystems, causing eutrophication (the proliferation of algae that depletes dissolved oxygen and kills aquatic species), growth of cyanobacteria, antimicrobial resistant strains of bacteria in the environment, and more. These two counties are home to the endangered Ozark Cavefish, whose sensitive habitat will be degraded by agricultural waste.
While residents let their strong opinions against these facilities known, the regulatory and legislative landscape in Missouri makes it all but impossible to effectively oppose these industrial operations. There remains a long uphill battle for reform.
MCE member and Co-Founder/Director of the Missouri River Bird Observatory Dana Ripper wrote an open letter to local hearing attendees. Read Dana’s remarks below.
Dear Lawrence and Newton County Residents:
I attended the DNR public hearing held in the Pierce City High School gymnasium on the evening of Thursday May 29th . It was profound to witness the depth of knowledge displayed by every speaker on the topics that were most important to them, be it water quality, soil health, livestock wellbeing, local economics, or the simple right to enjoy their own property without disgusting odors. It was great to see the understanding that folks at DNR are just doing their best within the constraints they’ve been given by a legislature with members who are either ignorant of, or overtly hostile to, protecting environmental quality.
I was extremely moved to hear people speak of their generational connection to the land and to hear it described how damaging – physically, mentally, and emotionally – it is to live affected by these appalling industrial operations. When the CAFO fight comes to my own county – and it will – I hope my fellow residents rise with even half the courage and knowledge that you all did. Rarely have I been so proud to be a Missourian and an American than watching you stand up for your rights in a crucial example of the democratic process.
The other side of the coin was in the words of the corporate representatives present. The lawyer who represented the Missouri Pork and Cattlemen’s Associations scolded all of us to remember that DNR was just following the law, and that we should take this up with our legislators. This was, to say the least, duplicitous. This individual in fact helped to create, and usher through the legislative process, many of the laws that allow proliferation of CAFOs (such as Senate Bill 391) and the corporate interests he represents have enormous influence on our elected officials. An attempted deflection from the matter at hand, these statements seem calculated to undermine our faith in the hearing, one of the last tools remaining to us as citizens now that industry has already succeeded in regulatory capture of the Missouri legislature and many state agencies. The representative of the Farm Bureau also cited the very regulations his industry has succeeded in weakening and said: “a public hearing on a permit application should not be required….so long as the Department is able to determine that the applications meet [these] regulatory standards, the application should be approved without a hearing.” To me these are ominous statements on the Farm Bureau’s view of local residents’ input on matters of direct and serious concern.
The industry representatives, and others who spoke from far healthier motives, are right about one thing – we do need to continually engage with our representatives. To the old adage that we should “watch what they do, not what they say”, I’d add that we should watch who they’re endorsed by. I hope that when the time comes to further engage with those in power – be they our elected officials, the Missouri Clean Water Commission, or any other governing body, we will all carefully consider their motives and true agendas. We should remember what the
industry representatives told us so clearly on Thursday night – the powerful interests that have been allowed to shape Missouri rules and regulations do not care about any of us, our land, families, quality of life, or livelihoods, and they don’t even want us to have a say. May we continue to resist their control in the spirit of Pierce City, Thursday May 29th 2025.
With respect and admiration,
Dana Ripper
Saline County, MO