Misuse Of Law Could Be Toxic To Farmers

How would you like it if your home were suddenly declared a toxic waste site?

Sound like something out of Ripley’s “Believe it or Not!”? Yet in today’s topsy-turvy world, that is exactly what some people are proposing. If you have any land with horses, cattle, chickens or other livestock on it, you have reason to be concerned.

The proposal-being pushed by some of the nation’s biggest environmental organizations-would bring all such farm and country property under the so-called Superfund law for cleaning up industrial waste sites.

How come? They argue that animal waste-manure-is a “hazardous substance” and therefore every property with animals on it should be labeled and treated just like industrial waste sites. The costs imposed on our farmers could be enormous. Thousands could be driven off their land. They are rightfully worried.

The ridiculous thing is that Congress never intended the 1980 Superfund law to apply to farmers-or to animal waste. It was meant to clean up industrial sites like Love Canal. But because farms were not specifically excluded, environmental groups are claiming the law applies to...