State Sen. Beverly Gard, R-Greenfield, said the bill died in the General Assembly's session that ended Sunday in part because state Rep. Phil Pflum, D-Milton, refused to drop a provision calling for a one-mile setback between the largest of the farms and schools.

Gard said Rep. William Friend, R-Macy, also was steadfastly opposed to the bill's fee hike provisions for livestock farm permits _ money that would have funded more inspections of the 2,200 farms where thousands of hogs, poultry or dairy or beef cattle can be built.

"The public's the big loser in this and the blame clearly falls on the House," Gard said Tuesday.

One provision of the bill would have required prospective operators of so-called confined feeding operations to declare whether they have been convicted of an environmental crime, faced administrative penalties or had a permit revoked.

Gard said that would have allowed the Indiana Department of Environmental Management to place about 45 pending permits for new livestock farms on hold until the applicants submitted that information.
"By not being willing to work with us the House gave up a lot," Gard said.

Source: FortWayne

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