Factory farms are producing stadiums-full of manure every day, and most simply let this waste pollute drinking water supplies. In Texas, manure from dairies applied to fields in Erath County significantly contributed to the degradation of the Bosque River, which feeds into Lake Waco. Farmers and ranchers in Perryton, Spearman and elsewhere complain that the odors and flies significantly devalue their homesteads, while the lagoons pose a threat to the region's critical water supply. They come into the state promising economic growth, and are welcomed with taxpayer-subsidies. Rather, they're factory farms run by remote corporations.
Most states have few regulations, and current laws are poorly enforced.
At the same time, federal rules do little to fill in major loopholes left by the states. The result is unchecked pollution leading to contaminated well water, fish kills, sickness from toxic gases in the air, and plummeting property values for neighboring land owners. In other cases manure, over-applied to crops as fertilizer, runs off saturated fields into rivers or lakes. America's Animal Factories offers several recommendations to control factory farm pollution. Founded in 1970, NRDC has more than 400,000 members nationwide, served from offices in New York, Washington, Los Angeles and San Francisco.