LANSING – Farmers and environmentalists want to beef up surveillance of the state’s 200 concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs.

CAFOs generate millions of gallons of highly concentrated, untreated animal sewage that can end up in streams, rivers and lakes, said Anne Woiwode, director of the state’s Sierra Club.  That means respiratory problems and sickness from polluted water for neighbors, she said.

“Local units of government have no control over a CAFO,” Woiwode said. “Unfortunately in Michigan, the neighbor is out of luck if the CAFO is following the rules.”

New legislation would halt the expansion of megafarms with more than 1,000 animals for five years and to increase surveillance of existing farms.

The Michigan Farm Bureau said the bill unfairly categorizes large farms and threatens the state’s $24-billion-a-year livestock industry.

“The vast majority of farms are in compliance with environmental requirements,” said Matt Smego, an agricultural ecology specialist at the Farm Bureau. “The bill paints all farms of a certain size as violators of the law.”

For example, Richardson Farms in Vicksburg runs an operation housing 4,000 pigs.  The farm won an award in 2005 for environmental stewardship, Smego said.

But Woiwode said neighbors near some farms have experienced respiratory problems from emissions and sickness from groundwater contamination.

She said members of the Sierra Club collected water and soil samples to prove pollution was coming from nearby CAFOs that were following state requirements.

Woiwode said the Vreba-Hoff Dairy Development in Hillsdale and Lenawee counties is the worst CAFO in terms of documented problems.  She said the dairy farm has had more than 100 water quality violations cited by the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).

Smego said all farms are required to obtain a permit from the DEQ or certification for management practices.           

Sen. Liz Brater, D-Ann Arbor, said that although large animal farms are given permits, the DEQ is underfunded and unable to monitor the farms effectively.

The department gives permits to large animal farms and other industrial operations, but doesn’t have the time or money to make sure the businesses are comply with the terms of the permits, she said.

Rep. Mark Meadows, D-East Lansing, said a five-year moratorium on the expansion of new and existing CAFOs would give the DEQ time to investigate farms and report to the Legislature.

Meadows, a sponsor, said DEQ officials would investigate how close the CAFOs are to wetlands and state parks during the moratorium, he said.

“It’s important for us to get that information and determine how we’re regulating them correctly, if at all,” he said.  “But it’s impossible for us to get this information right now, especially if there’s an explosion of the construction of these facilities in Michigan.”

Only 60 of the 200 known CAFOs in the state have water quality permits, Woiwode said.

She said many people can’t sue the large animal farms because of a state law that protects farmers from nuisance complaints if they are following state guidelines, she said.

All farms are required to meet state standards for management practices.  If they comply, they qualify for nuisance protection and neighbors can’t sue.

But Kathleen Hawkins, executive director of the Okemos-based Michigan Beef Industry Commission, said many large animal farms do a good job of limiting their environmental impact.

Many CAFOs take part in programs that incorporate sustainability with proper management practices, she said.

Wayne Whitman, the Right to Farm program manager for the Department of Agriculture, said CAFOs operate under stricter regulations, including observation of their nutrient plans and outside verification that they’re meeting permit requirements.

“It’s not fair to categorize large scale as poor performance,” Whitman said.