Strathclair hog barn operator not in compliance with laws - Hogwatch Manitoba
Dear Editor,
Politics, not law, are driving Yellowhead Council’s response to
Hog Watch Manitoba’s revelations about a hog barn expansion
Claims that its “investigation” reveals the operator was “found to
be in compliance with laws and regulations” as reported in the
October 24 Brandon Sun are false.
Council’s informal plan to have taxpayers pay someone to count
the Maple Leaf-owned pigs at this so-called family farm is a
diversion designed to give the offender time to fix problems
documented by Hog Watch. Counting pigs helps them evade their
responsibility to regulate on the maximum number and type of pigs
a barn can hold.
Governments’ honour system has led to the approval of a new barn
without making sure there is sufficient capacity to store
manure. Only after the barn was built, over a thousand pigs put in
it this spring, Hog Watch sounded an alarm and municipal
officials spoke to the operator, was an application made for a
provincial manure storage expansion permit.
The law is that any size of operation using earthen manure
storages have at least 400 days storage capacity. This operator’s
engineer October 5 letter to Council admits current storage
capacity is only 253 days and an application for a provincial
permit submitted only recently. There was no mention if a water
rights licence had been submitted or obtained since Hog Watch
intervened.
When the building application was made, the law required all
expanding pig operations, big or small, to file manure management
plans. This provided some check on having enough suitable
manure spread lands. It is now obvious why the Pallister
government eliminated this rule. It makes it easier and cheaper for
the hog industry to expand. It exposes people to the effects of
environmental and surface water nutrient pollution from the hog
industry.
Council ignored their own Zoning By-Law regarding required
spread lands. While the engineer’s manipulation of pig numbers
down to 297 Animal Units (AUs) appears to justify the operator
not having to go through a conditional use hearing and provincial
technical review (triggered at 300 AUs), the zoning by-law clearly
states any livestock operation producing over 75 animal units of
manure has to “provide enough suitable land… to dispose of the
manure in a fashion which will not pollute the land.” Counting
pigs can’t fix these violations of the law.
Wim Verbruggen publicly asserted in the Sun that I, acting on
behalf of Hog Watch is telling “lies, lies, lies.” The evidence
speaks for itself. Just like evidence heard by Oakview Council
from a local resident during the conditional use hearing on his
2016 proposal for a 6000 head-capacity finisher operation that was
rejected. The manure storage site selected and sanctioned by a
different engineer, was shown to be illegal. A fact ignored by the
Provincial Technical Review Committee. Another provincial rule
change now allows such manure storages to be built on such
surface watercourses by simply calling them something else.
Governments’ job is to regulate the hog industry by putting the
public interest first. The honour system, ignoring facts and the law
while attempting to count pigs to give an offender time to become
compliant after-the-fact is dangerous practice and sends a troubling
message to the industry. You can break the law and if you get
caught, we’ll help fix it for you. This approach rewards
lawbreakers, rather than prosecuting them and does nothing to
protect people and the environment.
Ruth Pryzner
Hog Watch member
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