Farmers in Bradley County be very alert and wary of the EPA! As this article, they are coming after the small farmer, the little guy!
The EPA, the Federal Government should not be anywhere near our farmers! The EPA should get their hands off their farms, period!
The federal government should not be citing farmers for feeding their cattle hay, the cow digesting the hay, creating feces that normally comes out of a cows behind, hitting the ground, a rains comes and washes it into a nearby stream, the sun coming out evaporating the feces, discharging a gas, then cite him for damaging the ozone and a stream downhill from his farm. This is making me mad and I am only being
sympathetic to our much needed farmers!
As noted the representative from the EPA is quick to point out that the citation doesn’t mention the word “hay” one time but it does mention feed, foliage and the production of feed! Well, if it ain’t hay then what is it! Last I checked and when I saw my grandpappy feed his cattle he fed his animals the hay he grew! I should know I baled much of it as a kid for a plate of cornbread and pinto beans as payment!
Farmers, take this to a whole new level! I can notify and make a stink and use my 1st amendment rights to do so, but it will be up to you to contact your elected officials to stop the EPA! You think that this will only happen in Billings Montana or Kansas, no it won’t stop there! It will be in Bradley County because our elected officials are fostering an environment for the EPA, the United Nations via agenda 21 to step into our communities and wipe you off the map with regulations just as they are attempting to do to Mr. Callicrate. Many elected officials in this town are oblivious to the Socialist creep that is infesting our county and country, but a few are in the know and if you look closely it will be quickly evident who they are once you become educated about what they are doing. Let’s stop the EPA from regulating our farmers into the ground!
CHECK THIS OUT ON MR CALLICRATES PERSONAL SITE HE HAS POSTED THE EPA CITATION AND PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO THE WORDING AND ASK YOURSELF how much of the cited regulations are just normal activity on a farm and then imagine the EPA walking onto your property and see what citations you would get! This is unvelieveable to me!
You will have to highlight it and copy this address then search it, it would not allow me to copy the link to this page!
Click to access EPA-complaint1.pdf
Here is a copy of the letter sent by a representative of the EPA to me!
By Karl Brooks, EPA Region 7 Administrator
A Kansas feedlot operator is trying to make hay by falsely claiming that EPA defined hay as a water pollutant.
The owner of the Callicrate Feeding Company has been spinning a “hay-as-pollutant” myth through the blogosphere for a couple of weeks now. While the company is certainly entitled to its own opinions about EPA, the company is not entitled to its own set of facts.
Here are the facts. On August 15, EPA’s Region 7, which includes Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska and nine tribal nations, took action to correct several serious environmental violations at the Callicrate Feeding Company in St. Francis, Kansas. EPA found water permit violations at Callicrate’s operation that needed to be addressed. The compliance order was not based on hay. Nor would EPA have issued such an action based on hay.
To be clear: The order had nothing to do with hay. At no place in the 11-page order is the word “hay” mentioned. Nor is there mention of alfalfa or grass.
EPA cited the Callicrate operation for failure to control harmful runoff, maintain adequate manure storage capacity, keep adequate operation records, and meet the state and federal requirements of its nutrient management plan. Compliance Order (PDF) (11 pp, 1.5MB, About PDF)
EPA inspectors observed silage, and dried distillers grains within the uncontrolled feedstock storage area.
When stored inappropriately, the silage and grains can turn into a liquid material that contains contaminants detrimental to water quality. EPA inspectors also observed slaughter wastes being stored outside in an uncontrolled area. The EPA order was based on those contaminants and the other violations mentioned above.
The Callicrate facility is permitted by the State of Kansas for a capacity of 12,000 head of beef cattle and had 3,200 head at the time of the inspection. Under EPA definitions, 1,000 head of beef is considered a large Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO). This is not a small operation. The permitted capacity puts the company in the top five percent of the largest animal feeding operations in Region 7.
This action by EPA was issued to correct problems. Less than two weeks after the order was issued, Callicrate’s attorney informed us that the company had already taken action to address the problems identified in EPA’s order.
We have some indication of how other producers have perceived this fracas in a feedlot. Region 7’s offer to meet with Kansas cattle producers to discuss CAFO enforcement was warmly received and we will be meeting within days. Drover/Cattle Network published an article debunking the “hay-as-pollutant” myth.
As that article concludes: “But as the industry confronts and negotiates these genuine regulatory issues, R-CALF’s claim that ‘EPA declares hay a pollutant to antagonize small and mid-sized U.S. cattle feeders’ is unnecessary, inflammatory hyperbole.”
Brooks is administrator for U.S. EPA Region 7 that includes Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska and nine tribal nations.
Bradley County News Network 