I won’t comment too much on this since I’ve been known to practice a bit of hog-related litigation, and if this ends up being as big as the article hypes it up to be, I guess it’s not out of the question that I could get drawn into it one way or another.
But, Seth Slabaugh, writing for the Muncie Star Press reports on “multiple lawsuits” that are planned by individuals seeking to challenge the confined feeding business model.
Neighbors who are fed up living next door to factory farms have found three high-powered trial lawyers who vow to make Randolph County “ground zero” in a courtroom food fight over how Indiana produces pork and milk.
. . .
The trial lawyers are bringing multiple lawsuits challenging Indiana’s industrial or factory model of producing milk and pork in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) promoted by Gov. Mitch Daniels’ agriculture department.
. . .
The defendants include Vreba Hoff Dairy, an Ohio-based firm that has brought large Dutch dairy farms to Indiana, Ohio and Michigan; Maxwell Foods/Maxwell Farms, a leading, North Carolina-based pork producer that has been expanding into Indiana; Harrisburg, Pa.-based pork producer Country View Family Farms, and various local operators. Most of the cases are being filed in Randolph County, though one is being filed in federal court in Indianapolis.
Watch “Food Inc.” and see if your views on CAFOs change. It did for me.
Fast Food Nation was an eye opener for me. But, my personal views don’t mean too much when I’m working a case.
We all want our cheap hamburgers and great steaks and low priced milk. These dairies fullfil our demand. When we build them, however, we need to make sure that plans for the runoff are adequate and not passed over by mitch and his crew who are more intent on approving a permit than enforcing the law. there are abuses as in the posts above, but these are the rarities, not the norm.
Abuses as the rarities, not the norm??? Oh, right, you were just kidding! Fair Oaks (for all its “glamour”) has discharged to waters of the state, costs to counties just for road repair always exceed (by tens of thousands of dollars) the new taxes brought in. The ground beneath these “wonders” is polluted on a scale that recalls superfund clean-up. And whether it is the first year or the tenth year, the pollution ends up in the wells and rivers.
I know that is the right answer. I know we need people to do that. I know I’m glad I’m not one of them.