From the Ottawa Citizen:  Tuesday, January 22, 2002

Point of View - Rural Life

Cumberland's ex-mayor must help residents fight hog farm

by Phil McNeely

Ottawa, often seen as the pork-barreling capital of Canada, faces the prospect of hog factories within the city limits, with risks to human health and safety through polluted water and air. But residents are starting to raise a stink.

Pork producers have filed an application with the City of Ottawa for an intensive hog factory operation (2,800 hogs) about a kilometre from the village of Sarsfield, and another possible operation south of the Fallingbrook neighbourhood near Mer Bleue Road.

The city is asking the Ontario government for authority to control these operations. The minister of agriculture, Brian Coburn, who also happens to represent the area in question, has so far chosen to ignore the concerns of his constituents and to hide behind Bill 81.

Bill 81 is the proposed Nutrient Management Act. Ontario is changing its laws to prevent municipalities from legislating against livestock operations. Bill 81 will wipe out the municipalities powers to protect our villages and urban areas against water and air pollution from large farms.

What will this intensive hog operation do to Sarsfield? I refer to a publication in the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Web site and an article from the U.S. publication, Environmental Health Perspectives, March 2000.

Did you know that an intensive hog operation could have the impact, in terms of the environment, of a small village or town? A 3,000-hog operation can have the impact in terms of waste and air pollution of a town of 10,000 people. Imagine the mess if there were no controls on waste disposal and it was all spread on fields.

Leave aside potential water pollution. Let us look at the quality of life impact on this historical village, which has always co-existed with normal farming operations.

I quote from the ministry's own document. "As opposed to other livestock operations, it seems that swine operations emit odours producing more human response. People living near swine operations were found to show significantly more anger, confusion, tension, depression, fatigue, mood disturbances and less vigour than people living in the absence of such operations." The article then goes into many methods of odour control that have been evaluated, but it seems that all are judged too expensive and will simply be ignored by factory hog productions.

The Environmental Health Perspective article pointed out that in the U.S., large hog operations were more concentrated in poor areas. It seems to indicate that more affluent residents will not put up with them and can better defend their rights to clean air and water.

The producers are mistaken if they think residents of Sarsfield and Mer Bleue will take this lying down.

Producers often argue that they won't pollute. The reality: A citizen's test in Renville County, Minnesota found that 25 per cent of tests taken near manure lagoons failed to meet the Minnesota air quality standards for hydrogen sulfide. People living downwind of hog factories suffer a variety of psychological and physiological problems, such as depression, frequent vomiting and respiratory complications. More than half the people living within 3.2 kilometres of the mega-hog sites reported an increase in allergies, sinus infections and nasal blockages, and a lack of energy. Odours can be nearly as intense six kilometres downwind as they are at the site.

What will this intensive swine operation do to this quiet little village? What will happen to the people in the senior citizens' home? How will the health of the seniors be affected? What impacts will this industry have on property values? People will stay indoors. Windows will be kept closed. Barbequing will be dependent on wind direction. Air quality degradation will bring the associated health impacts. Property values will likely plummet and a historic and still very vital community will slowly be strangled.

Sarsfield is struggling to maintain its four-classroom school. The village is surrounded by agricultural land, so there has not been much population growth. Residents are pleased with their community and people are property-proud. A factory hog operation offers little, if any, economic benefit for the community and brings a large risk of air and water pollution.

Ottawa's mayor and city councillors have passed a motion requesting that Mr. Coburn give the City of Ottawa the authority to prevent this potential disaster. We need action from the minister.

Phil McNeely is the councillor for Cumberland ward.