June 3, 2000
The Kingston Whig-Standard
Community News
Annette Phillips
ERINSVILLE, ONTARIO -- Residents near Stone Mills village are, according
to this story, calling for a provincial moratorium on pig factories after learning an
intensive hog-farming operation slated for the outskirts of town could expose them to the
same deadly E. coli bacteria responsible for at least seven deaths near Walkerton earlier
this week.--except that E. coli 0157H7 is not found in pigs-wp Jeff Moore, who owns a
family farm just a kilometre from the proposed hog-farm site, was quoted as saying, ``We
are pro-farming, but for this type of industrial farming ... We would like to see some
sort of moratorium.''
Research was cited as showing that intensive hog operations require outdoor sewage lagoons
and empty fields to spray manure. This story explained that at Erinsville, the proposed
lagoon sits in marshland and residents fear leakage could cause E. coli to seep into
Beaver Lake and into the Salmon River, which flows into the Bay of Quinte. Geoff Schimmel,
a resident, was cited as saying that a building permit issued to a western Ontario farmer,
Mark Slack, is for a 1,438-sow barn.
Intensive farming - also known as factory farming - means, this story explained, the sows
will be bred and produce litters on site, raising the number of pigs and the amount of
manure.
Residents are, according to this story, also concerned about growth hormones and
antibiotics used in factory farming and their potential effects on the community's
drinking water, should there be any leakage. Schimmel, was quoted as saying, ``As a
corporate entity, the only goal
of this operation is to maximize return on investment. This will be a very high
concentration of animals in one spot.'' Residents will, according to this story, not find
support at the
provincial government, where officials recently interceded at the Ontario Municipal Board
to overrule a western Ontario municipality's bylaw to ban intensive farm operations.
Councillor Robert Gaffney, was cited as saying that Stone Mills council did what it could
to regulate the hog farm, passing an interim control bylaw earlier this year requiring the
farm to provide a plan for manure disposal. This story further explained that though the
provincial government has downloaded responsibility for environmental protection to the
municipalities, it gave councils no authority to stop intensive farming and no mechanism
by which to ensure the farm complies with its manure-spreading plan, Gaffney said.
He was quoted as saying, ``The province has really left us in the lurch. We can't prevent
them, so we're trying to do what we can to make sure there are no pollution problems.
Where's the policing? Where's the follow-up? How do we know it's not causing pollution?''
Moore and Schimmel were cited as saying that the community will not tolerate a repeat of
last week's Walkerton disaster, where at least seven people died when E. coli bacteria
invaded a community well. The cause of poisoning has, according to this story, not been
pinpointed, but manure runoff from nearby farms is being investigated. Schimmel, was cited
as saying that legal recourse is one potential avenue, adding, ``Our next step is trying
to decide if we go straight to litigation.''
Slack could not be reached for comment by The Whig-Standard.