Cut the manure

SANDUSKY — A new poll shows many northern Ohio residents would support more regulation of animal manure in the Lake Erie watershed, including a moratorium on new concentrated animal feeding operations, known as CAFOS. Pollster J. Ann Selzer polled 506 voters in northwest Ohio for the Environmental Law & Policy Center, including voters in Erie, Ottawa, Sandusky and Lucas counties. The poll results were released in a Thursday press conference. The results showed 93% ranked safe clean water as their top issue, while 78% favored requiring permits for all CAFOs, regardless of size. It showed 81% favored imposing new regulations to limit runoff from manure and commercial fertilizer, rather than relying on voluntary rules. A majority said Lake Erie's health is a major voting issue. Respondents were asked three times whether they favor freezing CAFO construction. The first time, 46% said yes; when given more information, that figure rose to 55% and 60%, Selzer said. "The poll results show that Ohioans are fed up with recurring toxic algae outbreaks in Lake Erie and strongly support enforceable regulatory standards needed to reduce manure and commercial fertilizer runoff pollution enough to clean up the lake," said Howard Learner, executive director of the Environmental Law & Policy Center. Along with other states, Ohio has pledged to reduce phosphorus in the lake, a major component in feeding harmful algal blooms, by 40% by 2025. Manure from CAFOs has been a major issue for years for environmental activists in the Toledo area, and the Environmental Law and Policy Center has been a major ally for the local groups. According to Judith Nemes, a spokeswoman for the Environmental Law and Policy Center, from 2005 to 2018, the number of factory farms in the Lake Erie watershed had grown. During that time period, the number of animals in the watershed has gone from 9 million to 20.4 million, while manure produced and applied to farmland has gone from 3.9 million tons each year to 5.5 million tons. A scientist who studies the effects of runoff from farms into Lake Erie said Wednesday that while manure is a significant component of Lake Erie's algal bloom problems, commercial fertilizer, not manure, is the main culprit. Laura Johnson is the director of the National Center for Water Quality Research at Heidelberg University, which monitors water quality in the Lake Erie watershed. Johnson told the Register Wednesday that while the impact of manure on Lake Erie is an interesting question, "it is kind of difficult to answer." It's estimated that 30% to 35% of phosphorus in the Lake Erie watershed comes from manure, with 65% to 70% coming from commercial fertilizer. "I don't think it is misplaced to be concerned about the CAFO phosphorus, especially with the potential new operations coming in," she said.